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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370193">(Pizza) slice of life: a tale of Chaos</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen'>Nival_Vixen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Prompts 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sky High (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Proposal, Collateral Damage, Complete, Consequences, Cute, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Hawaii, Heroes to Villains, Infertility, Love Confessions, Marriage Proposal, Men Crying, Prompt Fic, Sidekicks, Slice of Life, Superheroes, Superpowers, Supervillains, Workplace Relationship, Worldbuilding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:28:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,694</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370193</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In Chloe's opinion, she believed that the Evil Food Company wasn't evil, despite their name. The employees were all former Heroes and Sidekicks, usually decommissioned or retired thanks to Jetstream and the Commander. It banded them together more than the job itself ever could, and most lunch breaks were spent either commiserating or celebrating the good ol' days.</p><p>After the Evil Food Company won the tender to work at Sky High, Chloe joined Lava Guy in the cafeteria.</p><p>Everything was great until Jetstream showed up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Warren Peace/Layla Williams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Prompts 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>(Pizza) slice of life: a tale of Chaos</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiAndReadyToCry/gifts">BiAndReadyToCry</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt: What’s the deal with the cafeteria staff? Is there a specific reason (plot or just funny) why the food makes everyone sick? What do these unattached Sky High faculty think about W/L or any of the drama that's happened so far? Do they know about Warren's side hustle making their food edible? Do they have beef w/students who bring their own lunches (especially since Zach is cooking for everyone now)?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>In Chloe's opinion, she believed that the Evil Food Company wasn't evil, despite their name. The employees were all former Heroes and Sidekicks, usually decommissioned or retired thanks to Jetstream and the Commander. It banded them together more than the job itself ever could, and most lunch breaks were spent either commiserating or celebrating the good ol' days. The kind of days when they had been paid to defeat the very villains they now worked alongside, or the days when they still had all of their limbs before being lowered into vats of toxic waste, or even the days when they didn't need numerous hospital appointments for skin grafts and broken bones.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, being one of those aforementioned employees, Chloe understood she was biased towards her employer. Still, her belief was founded on solid evidence of above-average pay, on-site accommodation, and mandatory work breaks to help foster camaraderie between the employees. It was during one of these breaks that Chloe found out the hard way that it was best to hide her subscription to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Super Suit Monthly</span>
  </em>
  <span> magazine unless she wanted to be accosted by the other employees. Within minutes of bringing out the magazine, One-Legged Joe started lecturing about the suits, materials, and - worst of all - the additional features. While everyone agreed with Joe that the anti-chafing was a necessary feature for all super suits and they wouldn't wish chafing on their worst enemy, there was a lot of discussion and arguments about what consisted as a necessary feature. Within a day of the newest </span>
  <em>
    <span>Super Suit Monthly</span>
  </em>
  <span> release that advertised the new laser beam technology added to custom super suits as an exclusive and very expensive feature, everyone at the Evil Food Company knew to avoid Laserator. Laserator's PowerPoint lecture on why their power wasn't a "feature" lasted forty-five minutes and resulted in the destruction of the Evil Food Company's computer lab. The Evil Food Company replaced the destroyed computers with ones from the 80s that couldn't even run Windows 95, so maybe they were evil, after all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On hearing that Sky High put out a tender for the new cafeteria staff and supply, the Evil Food Company, of course, put in a bid straight away. There were processes to go through: bribes to provide to the PTA staff, corporate espionage to destroy and discredit their competition, and when they were the only remaining tender, they had what seemed like a billion contracts to sign as well. Despite all of the work they'd put in to win the tender, it took even more work once they'd won. The Evil Food Company had to train their staff to resist the urge to power up and demonstrate exactly what </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> Heroes and Villains looked like when surrounded by a few hundred students, and when that training inevitably failed, there was the added expense of purchasing power repressing cuffs for their staff instead. Honestly, wearing them all day kind of sucked, but when the kitchen wasn't destroyed due to other supers powering up for the third time in as many days, Chloe figured the power repression made up for not ending up with yet another hospital bill. Lava Guy had applied to work at Sky High and he'd taught the others breathing techniques and how to handle wearing power repressors, since he'd been wearing one ever since he started at the Evil Food Company. Not to mention, he was kind of cute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unlike Lava Guy, Chloe's power had been dismissed as simplistic in the 80s and as such, she'd been put in the sidekick track. She'd hated it and the way the other kids in the hero track looked down on her because of a label she hadn't even given herself, but Chloe had plans to be a hero. Even when Sue Tenny had attempted to recruit her, Chloe had still wanted to be good. She had refused Sue's offer, though the promise of reform had been tempting, and after graduation, Chloe had gone on to become the sidekick to a Hero called Cell. She still didn't know why he'd called himself Cell when he didn't have two brain cells to rub together and his power was to harden his skin like a seashell. After a disastrous fight against Royal Pain and Stitches involving Jetstream and the Commander taking over and an incident with a comically large hammer, Chloe found herself without a Hero or a job as a sidekick and with a non-disclosure agreement that she had to sign. She'd freelanced for a while until the need for money to pay for rent and food resulted in her looking for a steady job. She'd been employed by the Evil Food Company after three months of searching, too much ramen to be considered healthy, and an eviction notice that had her homeless in the week leading up to her employment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, the Evil Food Company offered fully furnished accommodation to their staff that was housed in their Evil Apartments, and even had its own Evil Shopping Mall in the lower levels. After living there for nearly ten years, Chloe had determined that there were two evil things about the shop and apartment: the first being the barcode scanner was temperamental and never seemed to work when she went to get her shopping, and the second was that no one could get the building's ducted air conditioning to work for more than a week. Chloe sometimes wondered if </span>
  <b>that</b>
  <span> was what Royal Pain had meant by her regretting the decision to not join her, but decided that a steady job with food and accommodation was better than being in a prison cell. Besides, she could now type barcodes faster than anyone else in the building.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were two main roles for employees at the Evil Food Company: work in their production line where the food was made and tested or work in the Sky High cafeteria and serve food to the next generation of supers. Chloe enjoyed the production line work, even though the taste testing could sometimes be hit or miss, but being up in the clouds and sunshine gave Chloe something to look forward to every day. After ten years in production, Chloe requested to transfer to the cafeteria, and her application was approved. The ride up to Sky High still made her stomach drop to the ground, but the Evil Food Company's employer-provided bus was a much smoother and cheaper ride than a jet-powered taxi. She shuddered at the thought of getting up to Sky High every day with something like a jetpack. She'd seen what happened to supers who lost control of their jetpacks and Chloe certainly didn't want that fate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The cafeteria was noisy and far more lively than Chloe was used to after working the production line for so long. That first day, she'd stared at the overwhelming crowd of students, baby faced cheeks and all of them still so young and hopeful. She'd forgotten what hope looked like, after only experiencing nostalgia and bitterness for these last ten years. Hope was for the children, for the ones who had yet to see the world and find out the truth beyond the cereal boxes and spandex tights. They wouldn't be the ones on cereal boxes and billboards, or if they were, they wouldn't be for long. The Commander and Jetstream had the monopoly on both and were determined to keep it that way, as Chloe knew from her own NDA and stories from other colleagues who'd fought against or with the two beloved superheroes and lost. Whether they lost the fight or a limb wasn't the point, the point was that they'd all lost something, and after nearly fifteen years, Chloe realised that she'd lost something as well: her pride and hope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just like these children, she'd been so hopeful and earnest about being and doing good. She had wanted to be a hero, never mind her sidekick label, and she thought she'd be able to get away from such limiting labels once she'd graduated. Instead, she'd been restricted by her label even further when she'd had to search for jobs and had ended up here, serving food to children who didn't even look at her when she placed their requested meals on their trays.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe wondered how many would be able to identify any of the cafeteria staff outside of the school; </span>
  <em>
    <span>did they even realise that Lava Guy was covered in third-degree burns or was his face just a conglomerate of features that blended together into one generalised "cafeteria staff" person?</span>
  </em>
  <span> It took many therapy sessions for her to deal with this and just when Chloe felt like she was getting over the bitterness and loss of individuality, Jetstream visited Sky High.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meeting Jetstream in real life and away from the usual posturing of super related jobs was both nerve-wracking and disappointing. Chloe understood how some heroes were put on pedestals by citizens, and even other supers, but Jetstream and the Commander were two who put themselves on those pedestals, never mind the height. In fact, from the height they themselves had set their pedestals upon, Chloe was certain that when they came crashing down - and they would, just like Captain Stronghold had before them and others between - that they would cause more damage than Sky High would have had it crashed into the metropolis of Maxville a year ago. She doubted Jetstream cared while she was still sitting high above everyone on her pedestal, and on discovering the reason why Jetstream was at the school, Chloe's doubts were confirmed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ah, hello, cafeteria staff," Jetstream said brightly, waving at them and smiling like they were her biggest fans.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe's jaw clenched at the greeting; </span>
  <em>
    <span>she was wearing a nametag and currently one of two people in the cafeteria at that moment, why couldn't she take the time to refer to their names rather than their jobs? She didn't call Jetstream 'superhero', did she?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The cafeteria isn't open yet," Lava Guy called out beside her, focusing on his work and not realising who their visitor was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. Well, I'm sure you can make an exception for me," Jetstream said, her smile turning stern.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lava Guy glanced up and then did a doubletake. "Oh. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jetstream</span>
  </em>
  <span>," he said, his voice cracking like cooled lava.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Which one of you is in charge?" Jetstream asked, looking between them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lava Guy and Chloe looked at each other and beneath the bench they were standing at, held out their hands in a silent game of rock-paper-scissors. Lava Guy went rock, as he always did, and Chloe chose scissors this time around. He still hadn't forgiven the Commander for what had happened in Hawaii and Chloe was probably going to be better at handling Jetstream than he was. Even if Jetstream had destroyed Cell with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>supposedly</span>
  </em>
  <span> misplaced hammer, she hadn't hurt Chloe physically, probably because she hadn't deemed the sidekick a threat. (</span>
  <em>
    <span>Chloe still maintained it was due to Cell's choice of a sequin-covered super suit that everyone underestimated her, but he had been her Hero and who was she to question his choices? At least, she hadn't done so aloud</span>
  </em>
  <span>.) So, Jetstream had destroyed her Hero, her boss, and her livelihood, but she hadn't hurt her physically like she and the Commander had done to Lava Guy. Chloe just had to get through whatever this conversation would be about and then she would have more to talk to her therapist about. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She could do this</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm in charge," Chloe answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could practically see the relief on Lava Guy's face at her words. There was a prolonged moment of silence as Jetstream glanced at him pointedly and raised an eyebrow as if to say 'why are you still here?'</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh, right... I've got... something to do back there," Lava Guy said with a wince, slipping away to the back of the kitchen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe inhaled slowly to stop her anger from making her say something she'd regret.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Excellent. I know the lunch break is coming up and you're sure to be busy doing... everything that you do," Jetstream said, obviously blanking on the kind of job Chloe might perform or perhaps unable to think of any kind words to describe her servitude. "But I wanted to talk to you about the upcoming menu for next month."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe frowned. "Next month?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes. As you probably know, it's Will's birthday next month and I wanted to do something special for him. He just loves the pizza I buy for him. It's from Rome, so I understand authentic Italian is difficult to recreate given your... </span>
  <em>
    <span>ahem</span>
  </em>
  <span>, limited facilities," Jetstream said, and it was then that Chloe realised she was hovering off the ground as though she couldn't bring her precious feet to touch the floor, "but I thought it might be possible to put some kind of pizza on the menu as a surprise for him? Oh, and those puddings could be little cakes, just like a little birthday celebration! That's possible, isn't it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe didn't know it was Will's birthday and couldn't care less. The menu was set two months in advance and while the ingredients were prepared at the Evil Food Company, the cafeteria staff were the ones that assembled and cooked the ingredients into an edible and nutritious lunch for the students. They couldn't change a menu for one student, and especially not for a reason as childish as a birthday; if they changed it for one student's "special day", they'd have to have special birthday menus for every single child, and Super God knew what would happen then. They would have children with the same birthday and different food preferences, or children who asked for food they couldn't make in bulk, or children who asked for food they couldn't sell to the rest of the school because it was too niche or spicy or allergy-laden. The food they did prepare wasn't five-star quality in any way, shape, or form, but it was healthy and kept the complaints to a minimum because no one expected more from them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Besides, it was high school and who on earth would expect things to be fair there?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Don't you think it would be cute? It could be our little secret," Jetstream added with a smile and a wink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe felt nauseous at the sight of that wink. "I don't think... "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"And, of course, as the main influencer of the PTA board, I know your contract's two-year review is coming up soon. I'd hate for the tender process to have to start all over again because we've decided we're unhappy with the services provided by your company."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lava Guy hissed in the back of the kitchen, but Chloe couldn't bring herself to look back at him. She didn't have the authority to say yes or no, nor did she think it was right to blindly agree, and if she agreed to the blackmail now then Jetstream would have that to hold over her head for the rest of her life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We're unable to change the menu at such short notice, Jetstream, and doing so will result in too many allergen possibilities for the students. Not to mention providing special treatment for one student is unfair to the others at the school," Chloe said firmly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jetstream's jaw clenched and Chloe held her breath as she glared at her fiercely. "You will regret this decision."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Royal Pain said the same thing," Chloe muttered, not quite under her breath.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're comparing me to Royal Pain?! Do you know the lengths we went to in order to defeat her?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Figuring she was in for a penny, in for a pound, Chloe set her shoulders and raised an eyebrow right back at her. "I know you were turned into babies and several children had to save the day, most of which were Hero Support. So I assume that the supposed </span>
  <em>
    <span>lengths you went to in order to defeat her</span>
  </em>
  <span> included crying, pissing, and shitting yourselves."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jetstream had turned ghost white by the time Chloe finished talking - she didn't know if her therapist would be impressed or disappointed by her, but she felt a vindictive pleasure as she heard Lava Guy laughing his ass off in the background - and even stopped floating long enough to land on the cafeteria floor. Viciously, Chloe hoped it was sticky and ruined her shoes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jetstream inhaled, her nostrils flaring, and then she smiled a smile so evil that even the managers at the Evil Food Company would have been jealous. "Congratulations, you've just lost your company's contract. I'll get a new food company here by week's end and it'll be one who will do as I say!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe wasn't given a chance to respond as Jetstream turned and flew out of the cafeteria. She was trembling by the time Lava Guy made it back to the counter, and part of her hated that she'd just cost all of her friends and colleagues their jobs and the company their contract. She'd be fired by the end of the day, even with the loss of the contract.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, you okay, Clone?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Super God, she hated that name.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for anyone to lose their jobs, I just - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, no one's losing their jobs. We'll all just go back on the production line for a while, yeah? Jetstream won't be on the PTA forever, so we'll get the contract back. Besides, I recorded the whole thing and have evidence of her trying to blackmail you, so management will see that."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They probably won't care, they care about the contract."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lava Guy frowned and nudged her gently with his shoulder. "You've been living in their apartments and working for them for all this time, and you think they don't care?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe wrung her hands together. "I'm one employee; I just cost them the next three years of our five-year contract. You know Jetstream won't give up until we're gone."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lava Guy was silent for a long moment, then shook his head. "I still think they care about you at least as much as the contract. Besides, can you believe she demanded we change the entire menu just for her kid's stupid birthday?" he asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Despite the power repressing cuffs, his words were accompanied by lava hot spittle and he swallowed hard at his rage. He'd been assisting Jetstream and the Commander against King Kamehamayhem and had been seriously injured by the flood the Commander created to knock King off his surfboard. He hadn't cared that the water had cooled Lava Guy's lava and left him stuck in the sand, the tide slowly creeping back in and threatening to drown him. In fact, while Lava Guy had started to taste sea water, fear, and the overwhelming burn of salt against his skin and mouth and eyes, Jetstream and the Commander were getting an award for saving Hawaii by the Mayor. Lava Guy had only survived because Queen Kamehamayhem and the rest of her Court had dug him out of the hardened lava. The fact that she'd saved him rather than her husband meant more to Lava Guy than she could know at the time. Once he had been released from hospital and his burns were starting to heal, he'd pledged his life to Queen in service. She'd sent him to the Evil Food Company and he still wasn't sure why, but Lava Guy was determined to do his best anyway. He used his two weeks' paid holiday break to visit Hawaii every year, and every time Queen ensured he was looked after with a respect that not even his own teammates had given him when he'd fought against her and her husband. Lava Guy hadn't regretted his decision or life pledge to her once.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I can believe it," Chloe muttered, remembering what Josie had been like as a student at Sky High.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Come on, let's finish this pasta and the salad. We're not fired yet," Lava Guy said with a grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sighed and nodded. "All right, but only if I get to chop the cherry tomatoes."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lava Guy grinned. "You got it, Clone."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bell rang, startling them both and making them spring into action. Despite their years out of the superhero field, they still had the same reflexive responses and ability to go from zero to one hundred in a split second. Those were the sort of things you didn't ever forget, not really, and even One-Legged Joe could still hop into action faster than some younger ones on the production line. He'd lost a leg when the Commander had punched a villain he was holding, the villain's bones penetrating his own body so deeply that his leg couldn't be saved. While One-Legged Joe was one of the staunch defenders of the anti-chafing suit material, he could also rant for a full hour's lunch break about how reinforced material was necessary when fighting, and then spend the rest of the day recounting his short-lived glory days.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe watched as the students piled into the cafeteria, some already in their small groups and cliques, others hanging back until their friends from other classes arrived. Some of the friendships would last well into their nineties - provided the super-powered teens lived that long, of course - while others wouldn't last the summer beyond their graduation. She kept her cuff off while working on her station - management had approved once they realised why - and as she chopped one small cherry tomato in half, the rest followed without her needing to touch them. Her power of repetition was extremely handy in a job like this, and it never failed to amaze Lava Guy, who would have spent half an hour trying to cut them all individually one by one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hello, Clone. How are you today?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Making sure to set the knife down before anything else, Chloe looked at the student, smiling when she saw it was Layla. While Gwen Grayson had been pleasant in a way that seemed fake - always as though she was attempting to determine if someone would be useful to her goals - Layla was nice in a genuine way. She always gave Chloe a bright pink rose for her birthday, and tried to help Laserator with his meditation, even though he grumbled that it wasn't working every week, and thanked all of the cafeteria staff for their work each and every time she bought her lunch. Chloe knew the girl's powers since she'd seen the mess that had become of the cafeteria after Royal Pain's second defeat, and still wasn't sure why she was buying food when she could grow it for free far more easily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm well, thank you, Layla. How are you?" Chloe asked with a smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm much better now that we've finished Maths for Heroes. The geometric calculation of jumping across buildings doesn't make much sense when it's on paper, unfortunately," she admitted, her nose scrunching up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I've found that maths makes more sense if you have to apply it in a real-life situation," Chloe said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Layla grinned. "So you're saying I should try to find a building to jump across?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No, not at all. But you can jump between other things. Umm... tiles on the floor? The grass and pavers outside? Something like that, and far less dangerous for something as ridiculous as maths."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, c'mon up front, we're hungry!" someone called.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Layla glared over her shoulder, then turned back to Chloe. "Sorry about that, Clone. Thank you for talking to me. I'll have the salad, no dressing, and - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Extra pepper, less salt."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Layla grinned and nodded. "Thank you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're welcome," Chloe said, trying not to feel too choked up when she realised that as of next week, she probably wouldn't see Layla or any of these kids again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jetstream was right and by the end of the week, the Evil Food Company was no longer employed in the cafeteria. Their contract had been cancelled due to 'unforeseen circumstances' and it surprised Chloe beyond belief that the Evil Food Company were the ones to actually do the cancelling, not Sky High.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was called into her manager's manager's manager's boss' office at the end of the week, and was terrified of the thought of seeing the CEO of the Evil Food Company. She couldn't recall ever meeting them before, and to be called to their office outside of company hours could only mean that they knew what she'd said and done, and she was going to be fired. Chloe couldn't bring herself to pack her things and leave, her stomach churning unpleasantly every time she thought of leaving her apartment and friends and job of ten years. She had given a third of her whole life to the Evil Food Company and, as she had recently realised, they owned everything about her. The apartment she lived and slept in, the food she bought and ate, the friends she'd made, the therapist she saw: all of it was because of the Evil Food Company. By this point, Chloe didn't know if she could unwrap herself from the company and everything it had brought her, and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to, either. She liked her job and her colleagues and even the mandatory therapy wasn't awful.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sitting in the CEO's waiting room, Chloe watched the clock above the door and waited for her 6pm appointment. She had been given very strict instructions on when to arrive and when to knock, but she couldn't help herself and had arrived twenty minutes early, and had spent the last eighteen minutes and thirty-five seconds stressing herself out completely. As she counted down the next minute and twenty-five seconds, a woman rushed down the hallway, scanning her card on the security pad and cursing black and blue when she received a series of red-lit error beeps in return.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Would you like me to let you in? I brought my access card," Chloe offered, figuring that she could assist this poor woman and take her mind off her own upcoming tragedy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ugh, yes, please. I swear I remind myself not to keep it near a magnet, and then I stick it right on the magnetic phone holder every damn time. Thank you so much," the woman said in a rush, taking Chloe's offered card and swiping the security pad, the lights turning green. "Now that that's taken up the extra time, why don't you come in and sit down, Chloe?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blinking at the woman - </span>
  <em>
    <span>had they met before? She hadn't introduced herself and then forgotten, had she? Or was she still wearing a nametag?</span>
  </em>
  <span> - Chloe surreptitiously looked at her clothes to make sure she'd taken off her nametag, and then understanding dawned. This woman was the CEO of the Evil Food Company.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm Hourglass," the woman said as she opened the door and led Chloe inside. "And you arriving twenty minutes early set off a chain reaction which led to Joe getting out of the lift early, blocking the cars trying to get out of the parking lot, and then set my own arrival back by fifteen minutes because parking is a bitch, even when I have a reserved spot. I was meant to be here when you arrived early, but I couldn't get to the lift in time since it had gone up to the top floor for Lava Guy."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe winced. "I didn't realise getting here twenty minutes early instead of fifteen would do all that."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hourglass smiled. "It's all right, no one thinks that their one action will impact others. It just means I've arrived here looking like a mess and embarrassed myself with the security tag thing, which I try not to do in front of employees, but that's my problem and not yours. So, take a seat, and if you don't mind waiting while I chug at least two glasses of water to calm down, I'd appreciate the extra time to compose myself."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh, sure. Go ahead," Chloe said quickly, sitting down and hoping none of her other actions this evening would ruin someone else's day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence fell between them as Hourglass filled a glass of water, drinking steadily, then filled the glass again and did the same thing. She looked between the glass and water container as though contemplating a third glass, but eventually set it down empty. "Thank you, I feel much better now."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe just smiled and nodded briefly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"All right, let's get to the main reason I called you here: what happened at Sky High. I've seen the video for myself and I'm very impressed with the way you handled the situation."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You are?" Chloe blurted out incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, of course. We may be evil, but accepting something like blackmail just snowballs until you're up to your eyeballs in it, and have no idea what you owe who. It's ridiculous, and I made sure Principal Powers was aware of that before I cancelled the contract. Now, now, don't look so concerned: the cafeteria was a separate contract to the actual food supply. We still have the supply contract for Sky High, it just means two years on the production line again before we can get back up to the cafeteria - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Two years? But it was a five-year contract?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, yes, that won't matter when the food poisoning comes to light."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe blinked and then frowned. "Food poisoning?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, please ignore me. I'm muttering about things that haven't happened yet," Hourglass said with a quick smile. "Now, are you all right?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Surprised by the question and sincerity, Chloe looked over her shoulder in case Hourglass was talking to someone else. "Me?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, you. Jetstream was somewhat of a bitch and it's not pleasant to have to deal with people like that when you're just doing your job."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Um... yeah, I guess? I talked with Doc and she was proud of what I said and did. I think Lava Guy sent the video to her, too," Chloe mused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm glad to hear that. Now, how do you feel about returning to production? I know you enjoyed the cafeteria work, and I apologise that it didn't last longer, but I can assure you that the next one will. Is that enough to get you through the next two years?" Hourglass asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe nodded. "Yes, I'm fine with it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As it turned out, she wasn't.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While Chloe didn't mind working the production line again, nor seeing some of her colleagues who she had missed while working at the Sky High cafeteria, she did mind the new company they were supplying ingredients to. The Delicious Food Company were so obviously a ripoff of their own company that it set her teeth on edge every time she had to see the packaging, and due to her replicating power, Chloe saw the packaging nearly eight hours a day, five days a week.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A week later, after an almost desperate request to her manager, Chloe was moved to the food line. Using her power to reproduce food was more difficult than simply creating paper and cardboard with some colours, but she was still happier about it than the packaging job.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Exactly two weeks into this job, specific ingredients came through the production line: cake batter, pizza bases, tomato paste, parsley, pepperoni, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>- so - much - cheese -</span>
  </em>
  <span> that even Chloe felt sick at the sight and she freaking loved cheese. Realising almost half an hour into replicating the ingredients that this meant the Delicious Food Company had agreed to Jetstream's request to have a special menu just for her son, Chloe felt her jaw clenching and teeth aching. She still stood by her statement that providing a special menu for one child would be unfair for the others - whether or not it was high school, even this level of unfairness wasn't something even adults put up with - and to know that she was replicating ingredients for that reason made Chloe no longer enjoy her work.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knew it was bad when she'd snapped at several people on the production line, even poor, sweet One-Legged Joe. Chloe had to feign a headache just to go to her apartment and get away so she wouldn't take her mood and problems out on other people. After requesting One-Legged Joe's favourite chocolate to be delivered from the Evil Shopping Mall to his apartment as an apology, Chloe spent the rest of the afternoon napping and trying not to let her emotions get the better of her. Doc even made time for an emergency appointment and helped her with her breathing techniques, but it still didn't stop the gnawing in her stomach or the gnashing of her teeth every time she thought of Jetstream getting her way, just as she always did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She dreamed that night, and after her day, no one would be surprised to learn that Chloe dreamt of that day in the cafeteria. Jetstream hovering off the ground, her face a grotesque distortion of a smile, the smug atmosphere surrounding her as she said "it could be our little secret" and that Super God damned wink. Chloe's power must have been at work, even in her subconscious, because she dreamed that scene over and over and over again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the morning, the headache she'd feigned the day before had become a reality, and Chloe's head was pounding so hard that she couldn't bring herself to look at her phone for the time or to message her boss. Her stomach churned so bad that she couldn't think about food, let alone water, and she shivered uncontrollably under her thick blankets. At some stage - whether minutes or hours later - Chloe fell back to sleep and this time, thankfully, she didn't dream.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She awoke later to another pounding, but this one was at the door. Her head still ached fiercely, but she recognised Lava Guy's knock and struggled out of bed to cross her apartment and answer the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Clone? Are you okay?" Lava Guy asked, concern in his features and his cuffed wrist still raised to knock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe couldn't answer him. <em>If she opened her mouth, she was going to throw up</em>, she realised suddenly. Turning away, she ran for her bathroom as fast as her weak and shaking legs would allow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Um, Clone? Do you mind if I come in? Puke one for yes, twice for no."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe was too busy puking to answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Okay, I'm hoping that was a yes? I just wanted to see if you're okay? The production line got shut down because of bad food from our supplier, and I'm guessing you got whatever it was if you're puking your guts up like this."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe stopped long enough to collapse back onto her bathroom tiles, grateful for the cool temperature against her boiling hot body. She wondered if Lava Guy felt like this all the time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I brought noodle soup for you, for when you can eat again. I know you don't like chicken, so it's vegetable broth. Uh... I should leave you now. I hope you feel better soon, Clone."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Opening her eyes, she frowned at Lava Guy. "My name is Chloe."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He smiled down at her. "Nice to meet you, Chloe. I'm Lance."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe was sick for three days. Her replicating power didn't help things, and it wasn't until she was advised by her doctor to wear a power repressing cuff that she actually started to get better. When she returned to work a week later - after wearing the repressing cuff for an extra two days for her own sanity rather than the doctor's orders - the production line had been cleaned and sterilised to the point where it looked brand new.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Evil Food Company had also put up signs everywhere to remind people to wash their hands after using the bathroom facilities, and Chloe felt concerned by the people complaining about the sudden requirement: </span>
  <em>
    <span>weren't they washing their hands already?!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Deciding not to think about that too much for fear of grossing herself out entirely, Chloe headed to work on replicating the food items. As her power required touch and couldn't work with the repressing cuff, Chloe had to handle the foods and ingredients carefully. She felt like she'd been careful last week as well, but this week made it even more obvious that she could take extra care. She washed her hands between processing different ingredients, she wore gloves when she left the production line, and ensured that every inch of the fresh ingredients were washed before she started replicating them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For the rest of the week, it was all going well and Chloe felt fine until on Friday afternoon when the pepperoni started down the line, followed by pizza bases, tomato paste, and the cheese. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Dear Super God, the cheese</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Despite her precautions and the care taken to replicate the items, Chloe was feeling nauseous again that evening. She wore a power repressing cuff until she could visit the doctor again, who did blood tests once she'd removed the cuff. Weirdly, the blood tests came back negative.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe was confused by the results even though her doctor decided to run them again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What if the results were right? What if it was all in her head? Could seeing pizza actually make her feel nauseous? It didn't make sense</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Making her way up to her apartment, Chloe decided she could test her theory out by herself. Pizza for dinner wasn't exactly a hardship, and she could find out if she felt sick without endangering the ingredients or Sky High students.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A knock on the door had her rushing over, grabbing her wallet and starting to pull out cash, even before she opened the door entirely. "Hi. I'm so sorry, but do you have change for a fifty?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Um, I think so?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was a voice she recognised and it certainly wasn't the pizza delivery she'd expected. Chloe looked up at Lance and smiled, quick and guilty. "Sorry, I thought you were the pizza delivery. Uh... Hi," she added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance grinned. "Hi. Still need that change?" he asked, holding up his wallet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. Well... yes, please. You don't mind?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Nah. I know where you live," Lance said, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe snorted and shook her head, then took his offered cash and gave him the fifty dollar note she had. "That was bad, Lance."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, I know."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Did you come by for a reason? Oh, your soup bowl. I haven't returned it," Chloe said, hurrying back to her kitchen. "I washed it for you. Uh, dishwasher, not by hand, so you don't have to worry about any germs. At least, I hope not. Maybe wash it again, just in case?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I didn't come by for the soup bowl, Chloe. Although, on that note, did you like it? I haven't tried making it with vegetable broth before, was it salty?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You made it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance's cheeks turned a lava orange and he shrugged. "You were sick, and homemade food tastes better."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I have to admit I don't remember tasting much of it," Chloe said. "I do remember being sad when there was none left, though. I may have cried, but that also could have been a fever dream." Lance looked worried and Chloe smiled, poking his bicep. "I'm okay, don't look at me like that."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shrugged again. "I was worried about you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You were?" Chloe asked in surprise. "As a colleague and a friend or... "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't make soup for anyone, Chloe," Lance admitted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Um, would you be interested in dating me? No one's really heard about you dating and I don't know your preferences, so I don't want to assume you like guys just because I want to date you, so - mmf," Lance cut off abruptly as Chloe pressed her finger to his lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I'd like to date you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Behind her fingertip, Lance grinned broadly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was an awkward cough and a knock at the door. "Um, excuse me? Your pizza's here."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ooh, thank you!" Chloe ducked around Lance and went to pay for her pizza. Once the delivery was made and paid for, she looked over at Lance, who was still waiting where she'd left him, an adorable orange blush on his cheeks. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Would you like to stay forever?" One-Legged Joe called out from the hallway, cackling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe groaned and poked her head out of the doorway. "What are you doing here, Joe?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Checking up on you, but I can see that the honour's fallen to someone else, dearie. You have a good night, you two! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" he called with a laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe was sure she was the one blushing by the time she shut the door. "He's at the other end of the hallway. I'm sure the walls aren't that thin that he can still hear us," she muttered, sighing. "Did you actually want to stay or - oh, I'll take that as a yes," Chloe said with a grin, seeing that Lance had already found two plates for them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I hope you don't mind? Joe likes to embarrass me and I've found that doing something helps take my mind off the awkwardness. I used to have lava explosions until these cuffs were made," he admitted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe couldn't help but wonder what he'd gone through as a child with his power. "How did your parents cope with your power?" she asked curiously, the question blurted out before she truly thought about it or the implications.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance shrugged. "I've no idea. They dumped me on my Aunt's doorstep when I first powered up and destroyed the crib, apparently. No one has seen hide nor hair of them since."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe's eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, it's obviously private."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's all right. I wouldn't have told you if I didn't want you to know," Lance replied, smiling gently. "Are you going to bring the pizza over or are we eating it standing up?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, right. Do you like cheese pizza?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grinned. "Not as much as you, but I'll eat it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe raised an eyebrow, even as she set the pizza box on the bench beside him. "What do you mean by that?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Remember the Christmas party three years ago? We got pizzas brought in? You threatened to steal One-Legged Joe's prosthetic if he touched your cheese pizza. You had the whole thing to yourself."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe frowned. "Was I drunk?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ah, yeah, probably. We ended up with twelve different Christmas trees. I think you were trying to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas while you made them."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't remember a thing about that night."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance snorted. "Yeah, most people don't; you replicated the alcohol, too. I think you were everyone's favourite that night, but maybe not in the morning."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ooh, is that why Bundle goes green when we get the vodka bottles in?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Probably. It was a big night, and I think Bundle passed out around one in the morning? It could have been two, but I know that the party kept going until six when Joe wrapped his leg up in Christmas lights and almost set it on fire."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Super God, what else happened? And when did I pass out? Why do you remember so much of it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I didn't drink," Lance admitted. "Uh, you passed out around three after making pillows and blankets for everyone. Someone got the originals as a Secret Santa gift, and you said they looked fluffy and comfortable, so everyone should have one."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe's eyes widened and she looked over to the blanket on the back of her lounge. "You mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> blanket? I thought that came with the apartment!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What, and you just didn't find it for seven years?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't know. It made sense at the time."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance laughed. "Of course it did."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe nudged him with her shoulder. "Shut up," she said, grabbing a slice of pizza and eating it without an issue or sense of nausea.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe made it through another three days of replicating food without a problem, She'd replicated pepperoni without an issue on Monday, tomatoes and tomato paste on Tuesday, and even did pizza bases and cheese on Wednesday for some pharmaceutical company on the outskirts of Maxville. Yet, as soon as the pepperoni, tomato paste, pizza bases, and cheese arrived down the conveyor belt for Sky High on Thursday, Chloe felt nauseous once more. She'd managed a small tonne of salad items for Sky High just that morning, so it wasn't even the school.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe she felt nauseous because the pizza reminded her of Jetstream and that smug wink of hers?</span>
  </em>
  <span> It was the most likely and rational conclusion, but Chloe still felt awful by the end of her shift and barely managed to stumble home to her apartment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Curling up on her lounge with the blanket she'd apparently replicated, and holding the matching pillow to her chest, Chloe decided to watch the news to try to take her mind off her headache and nausea. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe there'd be a feel good feature about some cute animals that would make her happy enough to not feel sick</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she mused, switching over to the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maxville's Night News</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>" - local resident killed by a bull, leaving behind a daughter - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The news filtered through her brain without Chloe recognising or understanding, unable to look away from the image on the screen. Layla, the kind and genuine girl from Sky High, had her photo on the screen, her mother's arms wrapped around her and several animals surrounding them. It was a photo of the veterinary practice's opening day and one that was obviously filled with joy. Her stomach felt worse than it had before and Chloe ran for the bathroom.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That weekend, Chloe went to the small funeral that was held for Jenny Williams. She didn't expect anything from Layla, only wanted to show her support and offer her condolences. Lance had insisted on going with her once he found out what had happened, and they'd both stayed at the back of the funeral, quiet as the priest talked about a woman they'd never met. Chloe had wanted to say something to Layla, but she'd recognised that the poor girl was traumatised and didn't seem to be responding to anyone or anything. Even if she did say something, it wasn't likely that Layla would even realise what she'd said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Do you think we should risk going to the wake?" Lance asked softly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe shook her head. "I don't think we're invited. It's probably bad enough that we're here in the first place."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance sighed and took her hand, squeezing gently. "Layla would have appreciated it if she'd known what the hell was going on," he murmured.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Glad that she wasn't the only one who thought the poor girl was in shock, Chloe just nodded in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Chloe, your record says you can drive the delivery truck? Joe decided to go on a bouncy castle at his grandkids' birthday party on the weekend," Chloe's manager said, shaking their head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Is Joe all right?" Chloe asked in alarm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, he's fine. It's his prosthetic that's ruined. One of the kids at the party could manipulate resin and everyone found out the hard way when Joe's leg was mangled. Can you drive the truck?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. Yes, I can drive it. Where are the deliveries for today?" Chloe asked, mentally planning on sending two boxes of Joe's favourite chocolate to him and to check in on him later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I've managed to get most orders on the other trucks. The only two that are left are the pharmaceutical company and then Sky High. How fast can you replicate their ingredients?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Looking at the list of ingredients that would be coming down the conveyor belt soon, Chloe made an educated guess. "It should take about an hour for all of it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"All right. I'll let them both know about the late deliveries while you work on that. Don't overdo it, you still need to drive safely."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'll be fine," Chloe promised, focusing on the incoming doughnuts with no small amount of envy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're late."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe's smile froze on her lips and she looked at her watch. "The new time was scheduled for 1pm. It's 12:30pm so I'm technically early."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You were meant to be here at 11am. How are we meant to feed the brats if you don't bring the food on time?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You received an order of food two days ago. They don't eat </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> much," Chloe said incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Like you know what this horde eats," was the sneered response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She bit back her response stating that she knew exactly what they'd eat, and could probably tell them by each child exactly who ate what, but then shook her head and sighed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It wasn't worth it</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Chloe decided as she held out the clipboard. "Will you sign for the food?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You have to bring it in first."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a smug smile on their face that somehow reminded Chloe of Jetstream, even though they clearly weren't related in any way, and she clenched her teeth. They both knew that the delivery driver didn't bring the actual food into the kitchen itself. Part of her wanted to argue, another part wanted to get in the truck and just Super God damn leave already, and yet another part wanted to see the school again and see what changes the kids had gone through. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How much would she take before she decided prison was worth it?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Chloe wondered, even as she lifted the first box to carry inside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe stacked the boxes by the front bench and preparation station carefully. Taking a photo of the boxes to ensure they wouldn't pull some shit like saying they'd been damaged or handled without care, Chloe took the opportunity to look into the cafeteria itself. The second group of students were in the cafeteria, most she recognised, and a few new ones she didn't.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Layla was in the crowd, surrounded by a larger group of people than Chloe remembered earlier in the year. It was nice to see she was making friends, but the thing that struck Chloe was the amount of black the girl was wearing. Apart from Jenny Williams' funeral, Chloe had only ever seen Layla in bright colours of leaf and forest greens and dandelion whites and daisy yellows and sky blues. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Black clothes made her look pale and washed out, or perhaps she was just that way today?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She watched as Will slung an arm around Layla's shoulders, Layla's wince at the action, and Will's sudden shout and withdrawal, inspecting his arm for damage of some sort. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ha, good</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Chloe thought viciously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are you done yet?" a sneering voice asked, reminding Chloe abruptly that she was still doing a job.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taking one more photo of the boxes just to make a point, Chloe slipped her phone into her pocket and left.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later that week, Lance invited Chloe out to the Paper Lantern on a date, looking adorably nervous as he did so. She smiled and agreed, kissing his cheek just to watch him blush orange.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe dressed up for the first time in what felt like forever, deciding to keep the power repressing cuff on so she wouldn't accidentally replicate something during their date. Chloe drove since Lance didn't have his driver's licence (</span>
  <em>
    <span>getting the nervous sweats as a teen usually resulted in a destroyed car</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he explained, somehow both amused at the memory while also reliving the horror that had been his last driving test), and they arrived at the Paper Lantern ten minutes before their reservation. Remembering her conversation with Hourglass, Chloe wondered what she might have set in motion by arriving early this time as she looked around the restaurant. Blinking in surprise at seeing double, she looked at her wrist to ensure the cuff was still on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I swear I didn't do that," she murmured.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance followed her line of sight and shook his head. "They're twins, Chloe, and wearing different outfits," he pointed out, Chloe looking closely now and seeing that one blonde woman was wearing black while the other wore a deep red, the colours muted in the dim lighting of the restaurant.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, right. That's a relief, I thought this thing wasn't working," she muttered, shaking her wrist.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If yours stops, we get extra food," Lance said with a grin as they were led over to a table for two.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe laughed. "If that was the worst it could do, then I'd be glad. But, no. It replicates anything, even organs. I'm honestly surprised we got through that Christmas party intact. My power goes cell deep and can replicate blood cells and - " she cut off abruptly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance looked at her, frowning. "Are you okay? What else can you do?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I can replicate blood cells and bacteria. It's not the pizza, it's the bacteria."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm confused, Chloe," he said, his frown deepening. "Did you want pizza instead of Chinese?" Lance offered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. No, Chinese is good. I just... I think I've realised why I've been getting sick at work. The ingredients are clean on a surface level, but not at a cell level. So I keep replicating the virus by accident without realising."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, that makes more sense. Do you think anyone else has noticed?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't know. Have we had any complaints about the ingredients?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Not that I've heard."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hello, are you ready to order?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. I'm sorry... Mei Ling, could we have another minute to order, please?" Chloe asked, smiling at their waitress.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She nodded. "All right. Would you like drinks to start?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, thank you," Lance said. "Could I get a jug of lemonade? What would you like, Chloe?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Surprised by his order, Chloe looked at Lance and saw that he was sweating nervously. "I'll have a jug of water, please. Could I get extra ice, if possible?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Sure. I'll bring those right out," Mei Ling said with a smile, heading to the kitchen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the door opened and swung behind her, Chloe recognised Warren from Sky High, a flash of familiar red catching her eye, and she realised that Layla was in the kitchen as well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She wondered if they'd tried the pizza.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe set the last box down in Sky High's kitchen, wiping his forehead. "There, all done. Mind if I take a photo? Company policy."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Whatever."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taking his phone out of his pocket, Joe stepped back to take photos of the boxes as proof that they'd been delivered without being damaged. His new prosthetic was designed out of a better material than his old one, but he'd had the old one for a long time and missed it at times, especially when it could get him out of lifting heavy boxes. Glancing into the cafeteria, Joe was surprised to see a flash of flames and surprised screams, then one of the students went flying through the air in a flash of black leather and blue denim.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Switching to the video camera like his grandchildren had taught him, Joe pressed the red button. He knew no one at the Evil Food Company would believe him about this, and besides, he knew that Lava Guy and Clone cared about the kids. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Who knew if they knew this kid and wanted to see what happened after he got thrown through one, two, three, no, </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>four</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> walls?!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ugh, for fuck's sakes. Those brats had better not set off the fire alarms again. I swear, if I have to evacuate the kitchen because of them one more goddamn time, I'll poison them myself," one of the cafeteria staff snarled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe's eyes widened at the threat and kept his view on the cafeteria, breathing a sigh of relief as the tall brunette kid walked back into the cafeteria through the holes in the wall, snarling something at the kid who'd thrown him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, old timer! You finished gawking yet? That'll be over in a minute and you're just wasting your time. Not to mention getting in our way," one of the staff said with a glare.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe slipped his phone into his pocket, grabbed the signed delivery slip and his clipboard, and said his farewell over his shoulder and halfway out the door. After learning it the hard way as a Hero, Joe knew better than anyone the importance of getting out of a place when you were unwanted and doing it damn bloody fast, too. Setting his foot on the accelerator and clipping it into place, Joe looked out over Maxville and took a moment to breathe and take in the view while he could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time he returned to the Evil Food Company that afternoon, Joe's thighs were cramping fiercely and he almost forgot about the video he'd recorded. If his phone hadn't made a sad sound at the low battery, he might have forgotten entirely. Pulling his phone out, Joe saw that he'd left the video open - which explained the low battery - and remembered what he'd recorded. Hurrying through the hallways as fast as his prosthetic and aching body would allow, Joe tried to remember which area Clone had been assigned to this week.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Evil Food Company was still investigating the pizza ingredients at a cell level, as Clone had suggested, and had moved her to the box packing last week. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Was it the labelling area or the paper and glue? No, it was the canning area!</span>
  </em>
  <span> Lava Guy had bought Clone a bag of neon coloured band aids in anticipation for it, which obviously meant they were dating now, and Joe had seen her wearing a few brightly coloured band-aids just that morning in the tea room before he'd left for his delivery run. Stopping and turning carefully, Joe hurried back the way he'd come to go down the last side hallway and towards the canning area.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Clone! There you are! You have to see this! No, put the can down, this is important. Is this one of your kids?" Joe asked as he entered the canning area, yelling and waving to get her attention over the noise of the can labelling machine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe frowned at him and pressed a button, the loud machine starting to slow. "Put earmuffs on, Joe! You're already going deaf, you don't want to make it worse!" she called, pointing to the earmuffs by the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe rolled his eyes - he was already going deaf and didn't care if he went all the way there, already - but grabbed the pink pair of earmuffs and stuck them on his head. "Happy now?" he yelled, his voice muffled to his own ears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes. You can take them off now, the machine's stopped," Chloe said, tugging her earmuffs to rest around her neck and grinning at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe was going to leave and not show her the video.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Joe, come on. Come back; what was so important you had to come in here? You hate the canning area," Chloe called, getting off her chair and groaning as her body protested the movement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You should take better care of your body, lass! Get Lava Guy to massage you, hey? You sit too long, and you'll need your spine and hips replaced. Take it from me, the hospital bills are a pain."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe sighed. "I know, you tell me that every time you see me. I stand and stretch every thirty minutes, and I wiggle my toes between those times. I promise I'm looking after myself, my body, and my bones. Now, what was so important?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe took a moment to determine whether she was being genuine or not, then relented and held out his phone to her. "I delivered boxes to Sky High today. Thought you'd like to see what the kids are getting up to, with the whole throwing each other through walls and whatnot."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe's eyes widened and she took the offered phone. "Again?! Who was it this time? Oh, your phone's about to go flat, Joe. Wait, I've got a charger, just give me a sec... Ah, there. Has this been recording for the last three hours?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe sighed and glared half-heartedly. "That's the thing with the grandkids: they taught me how to record the video thingie, but not how to stop."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You just press the same button, Joe."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, no. Will and Warren again? Those two will kill each other at some point if they're not careful. Wait... What's Layla doing?" Chloe muttered to herself, seeing the flash of red by the cafeteria exit. "Oh, you got sound on this, too. I'm going to turn it up, okay?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe waved a hand at her impatiently, curious to know what he'd picked up with the recording himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe restarted the video and they both winced at Warren's voice over the cafeteria noise, berating Will for sucking face with Magenta and cheating on Layla. The cafeteria staff's threat boomed in comparison and Chloe clenched her jaw at the threat. "Can I send this to myself, Joe? Uh, maybe not the full three hours, though. Did you stop off for doughnuts on your way back here?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe blanched. "Now, give that back. And delete that! If my wife finds out, I'll be in the doghouse for the rest of the month."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe grinned. "Next time, bring a doughnut for me. Hell, bring one for your wife. Winnie's probably more upset that you're eating it without her than you actually eating it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe muttered under his breath, knowing that both were just as equally likely. His last blood test had worried both himself and his wife more than either of them wanted to admit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'll trim the video for you, okay? It'll hide the evidence of your doughnut-eating ways," Chloe said, smiling gently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe tried to smile back, tried to say thank you, but now that he was thinking about his doctor's appointment, he couldn't stop. The doctors had tried to heal his fractured leg when it first happened, but medicine hadn't been the same back then as it was now. They'd been unable to save the crushed bone, and he'd needed an amputation to save his life instead of a limb. Joe had thought that would be the end of it: he'd get a prosthetic and learn to walk again, and he'd survive with one leg instead of two. But, of course, his luck hadn't been that good. Instead, the fractured bone was crushed into minuscule pieces and he required surgery every few years as the bones worked into his body and caught in muscles or grew in calcium deposits or tried to attach to other bones in his lower body instead. Each time a sharp pain would send him to the hospital, where he'd either be unable to move without feeling that piercing pain as though his whole skeleton was covered in the tiny fragments. If he was unluckier still, his body would move on its own as bone fragments caught in muscles and nerve endings and made him twitch like a marionette with multiple people pulling his strings. He'd still feel that pain through every second, whether still or moving, and it was as agonising as the original punch had been. Joe often wondered what would have happened had he actually been the Commander's target. The man he'd been holding had died of internal bleeding within a matter of minutes, so he didn't have to wonder for long, but a small and insignificant part of his brain envied the villain for dying so easily, for not living with this pain. He was a good guy, he was a Hero, and after one simple job had gone wrong - for him, at least; the Commander and Jetstream were still lauded as beloved heroes who could do no wrong - he'd been granted a lifetime of pain. The surgeries removed as much of the bone fragments as possible, and while the medical field was advancing almost as fast as technology, it wasn't fast enough to heal his broken body or stop the fragments from breaking off with every movement he made. The doctor had suggested a wheelchair on the last visit but Joe couldn't bring himself to consider the option. If he didn't have his legs - the source of his power and the very thing that made him the Hero he'd once been - Joe didn't have anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That thought made him nauseous and guilty all at once, just as it always did. Joe's wife, bless her, was in a wheelchair and she still lived as voraciously as she had when they were young and able-bodied. Winnie didn't let her wheelchair stop her from living life, and Joe realistically knew that he wouldn't either.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And yet, he still couldn't bring himself to agree to the wheelchair, even though walking hurt him even more. Joe's doctor hadn't been impressed by the bouncy castle, to say the least.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"There, all done. Are you okay, Joe? You've been quiet and that's not like you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Fine, lass. Just wanting you to finish so I can get home. My leg's aching after driving."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"And the doughnut you didn't eat?" Chloe asked in a teasing lilt, hoping to make him smile again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Obliging, Joe smiled and nodded. He accepted his charged phone a moment later, thanking her for editing the video and charging his phone as well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The handy thing about Chloe's power was she could replicate electricity, too. Joe's battery wouldn't go flat for another three days, even if he left the video recording for that whole time. She'd tested it on her own phone years ago; in fact, the electricity company was still suspicious as to how she didn't use electricity like others in her building and had even sent people to test the outlets. The Evil Food Company had simply requested Chloe alter the whole building so her apartment wouldn't stand out, and even paid her for her assistance, too. Not only that, but they'd also added it into her job description so she could take a day off every month and recover without exhausting herself or her powers, even though she could replicate her energy long enough to last to the weekends and recover naturally. Sometimes, Chloe suspected the Evil Food Company was actually the Kind Food Company and just didn't want people to know.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You'd better get back to your canning, lass. Say hello to Lava Guy for me later."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe blushed and waved him away as she put her earmuffs on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Can you believe the cooking is so bad that Warren has to actually heat it up for students? Those poor kids must be getting the worst nutrition out of the food we're sending them. I'm actually embarrassed that our food is being delivered to them; the parents must be blaming us for it, since it's our food."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They probably won't jump to conclusions like that... " Lance started to argue, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't even believe the words coming out of my own mouth. I saw them on Parent-Teacher Night when we did the catering that time, remember?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe laughed. "You needed an extra cuff after you almost set Jetstream on fire when she said the cauliflower bites were spicy."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance scowled. "I should have doused her in lava. I barely added any sort of spices to them and they were so bland I had to destroy them with cheese later! It's not my fault she has the tastebuds of a wet fish."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know you get defensive about your cooking, Lance, but dousing her in lava is kind of extreme."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance sipped at his drink, set it down, and then shrugged. "After everything she and the Commander have done, it would've been nothing more than karma paying them back."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe couldn't really fault him on that logic. She'd taken to rubbing his body with a cooling gel every night in an attempt to ease the burning sensation he felt in his scars and cracked skin. She was the one that held and consoled him at night after he woke up screaming with nightmares of drowning. Chloe suddenly felt that maybe dousing them in lava wasn't enough payback for her liking afterall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Besides, you tasted the cauliflower, did you think it was spicy?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Not until you destroyed it with those Hot Cheetos and extra chilli flakes on top of the cheese. I couldn't feel my tongue for three days."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know that. You didn't tell me."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You were still the cute guy I had a crush on back then; I didn't want you to think me or my tastebuds were weak," Chloe admitted with a grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You had a crush on me?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe's grin widened and she leaned over the table to press a kiss to his lips. "Still do."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance blushed orange and kissed her again. "I'd like to ask you something, Chloe. I know we haven't been dating for that long, but it's important to me to ask you, even this soon."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hmm?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe didn't know what he was going to ask, and certainly didn't think he would be proposing this soon, but Lance was sweating so fiercely that his shirt was melting so it was obviously important.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Will you come to Hawaii with me?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meeting Queen Kamehamayhem was nerve-wracking. Chloe knew how much she meant to Lance, especially since his Aunt had died. Not to mention the actual flight to Hawaii itself had been nerve-wracking, too. She'd never been on a plane before and had already been far too nervous about that on its own. Then Chloe discovered she wasn't allowed to take a power repressing cuff through airport security. While Lance was granted special permission to wear a power repressing cuff (he had a note and everything) due to his dangerous and destructive power, Chloe's power was still labelled at a sidekick level and didn't warrant the cuff, according to the authorities and Super Bureau.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As such, Chloe had spent most of the flight terrified that she'd accidentally replicate something in the plane or the plane engine or, even worse, the plane food. By the time their flight landed, Lance's hand was bone white from Chloe clutching it so hard and she winced at the sight. Once they were in the airport, Chloe had to stand to the side of the exit just to take time to exhale and calm herself down. Lance waited with her, not in a rush despite his excitement to show her everything and all of his favourite places, and she hugged him firmly, pressing her forehead to his chest as she focused on breathing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Feeling better now?" Lance asked when she pulled away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She smiled and nodded. "Yes. Sorry, I should have been better prepared for that."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance grinned. "I'm curious to know how you could have prepared for any of that, Chloe. You've never been on a plane before and had no idea what you were getting into. Watching YouTube videos doesn't count as preparation."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You watched a YouTube video last week on how to unclog the toilet."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That wasn't preparing, that was instructional," he said with another grin, leading her towards the luggage pickup. "Oh, that's handy; we were there for so long that our bags are the last ones out. I don't think I've ever been able to get my bag this easily before," Lance said, grabbing their suitcases from the conveyor belt and setting them down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm surprised they didn't lose our luggage. Aren't airlines notorious for that?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, I suppose so. I think most of them hire ex-henchmen; they're bad for losing luggage but also oddly protective of the places that hire them. I think I lost my luggage on my first trip here, but I haven't had so much as a broken zipper since I met Queen. She gave me a souvenir to hang on my bag, see? I think it has a special meaning, but I like to think of it as a good luck charm."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Seeing the leather and pearl tag he indicated, Chloe wondered if Queen Kamehamayhem had created the pearl herself. She'd seen the pearl cufflinks she'd gifted to Lance, as well as other pearl related gifts for birthdays over the years and their "Saversary" every year and knew that they were not only were they pearls unique and distinctive but they were also so rare and expensive that he could fund the Super Bureau for the next three years if he sold one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. Lance said that Queen treated him like a son and she believed it, but it didn't help her nerves about meeting the woman who cared so much for her boyfriend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What if she doesn't like me?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Queen likes everyone. Well, nearly everyone," Lance admitted when Chloe raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "She'll like you, I promise. Oh, she sent a car. I said she didn't have to."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe looked over and stopped abruptly, her suitcase bumping into her heels. "What the hell? That's not a </span>
  <em>
    <span>car</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Lance, that's a goddamn stretch limo."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's a hybrid."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's... that's not the point I was trying to make. At all."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance sighed, blushed orange, and scratched the back of his head. "She has a tendency to spoil me when I visit. I tell her she doesn't have to, but she does anyway. Queen likes doing it, so I just let her. She saved my life."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know she did. I'm glad she did. But there's only two of us, Lance. A stretch limo is way too much."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance's blush turned brighter still. "If it's like any other year, it won't just be us. She sends a whole procession along to make sure I get there safely."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"A whole procession? You mean... her Court? I'm meeting Queen Kamehamayhem's Court in sweats and a stained hoodie?!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They won't care, Chloe."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I care. I want to give a good impression. Lance, some warning would've been nice. And I didn't even put makeup on, I thought we'd be going to a hotel to sleep because of jetlag, and I look like one of the undead," Chloe groaned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No! You look comfortable."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's worse, Lance."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Surprise?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"At least tell me if there are any other surprises? Please, Lance?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked guilty. "A banquet dinner tonight to celebrate, and a scuba diving tour tomorrow. That's all I know, I promise."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Scuba diving? But you hate going in the ocean?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I do and I'll probably never get over that. But Queen goes scuba diving while I stay on the boat. It has a glass bottom so I can see things without actually getting in the water."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So, I can stay on the boat with you?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I think so? I'll ask Queen tonight."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe raised on her toes to kiss him. "Thank you for the surprise, Lance. For future reference: I kind of hate surprises."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Noted. Are you ready for this? I can make excuses and we can get a taxi instead?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Super God, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no</span>
  </em>
  <span>. If I run now, I'll never forgive myself. Besides, I haven't been in a stretch limo before and they're already here. Besides, I know you've been eager to see them all," Chloe said, smiling at Lance and taking his offered hand. "All right, let's meet the Court," she said with a determined nod.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance tugged her close and kissed her firmly. "Thank you, Chloe."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Court were a boisterous bunch, all of them some sort of water-related super. There were shark, octopus, and jellyfish shifters, ocean current manipulators, and even one woman whose ability had something to do with sand. Chloe was welcomed with opened arms and far too many hugs - and perhaps too many arms for hugs - but every single person treated her like they'd known her for years and she'd been gone for too long.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Relaxing back into the surprisingly comfortable limo, laughing at one of the stories about drenching the Commander and Jetstream with water and their resulting complaints about wet lycra in places lycra should never be, Chloe squeezed Lance's hand and smiled at him. She understood why he loved coming here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance, you're finally back! You always take too long between visits!" Queen called out, crossing the doorway to pull him out of the car and envelope Lance in a hug.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Stuck in the car behind him, Chloe tried not to laugh as the shark and octopus shifters groaned at the delay behind her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Now, where is your girl? Does she like 'girl' or do we use a different noun?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Pronoun, Queen," the shark shifter called out, grinning with sharp teeth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That, too," Queen replied, even as she hauled Chloe out of the car into a hug that was just as welcoming as her Court, Lance standing to the side in a daze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You should ask about hugging, too, Queen!" the octopus tutted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. The Court reminds me that not all people are huggers, but I am and I forget, especially when I have been waiting years to meet you! Lance has talked about you non-stop for so long!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Queen!" Lance hissed, blushing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe was set down on her feet by the larger woman and took a moment to breathe, her body feeling like she'd been wrapped in cling wrap, but somehow comforting at the same time. "Hello, Queen Kamehamayhem. I'm Chloe. I like girl and your hugs are wonderful."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen grinned brightly, her teeth shiny like pearls, and laughed boisterously. "I knew I'd like you, girl! Come, I have many embarrassing stories about Lance and not enough new people to tell."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I want to know how long he's been telling you about me," Chloe said curiously, glancing over her shoulder to see her boyfriend as bright orange as she'd ever seen him before.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Long enough that we're having a party to celebrate him finally dating you!" one of the jellyfish twins called, laughing even as Lance lunged for him to shut him up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I hate you so much right now," Lance groaned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Pfft, you'll hate him more when he zaps you. Let go, Lance. He might bite. Or lick you, which I still think is worse than the zapping and biting combined," the jellyfish twin said, wrinkling their nose.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance let go of him and pushed his face away towards his twin. "You still suck."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Nah, dude, I zap."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Really hate you," Lance muttered, tugging him back for a hug.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Missed you, too, dude."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance was not kidding about the banquet dinner and Queen hadn't been joking about the stories she had to tell about Lance. There was a range from heartwarming with his physical therapy to side-splitting with him getting the jellyfish twins confused to heartburn enraging as she discovered exactly how the Commander and Jetstream had left their one-time companion behind to die.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They knew where he was - how can you miss a volcano, hey? - but they kept going on to fight my husband. Now, I fight with my husband all the time, but other people? No, he is mine to fight with, not theirs. Especially over something as simple as a stolen surfboard. And then they went and stole it anyway, saying it was a trophy. Stupid men, both of them," Queen muttered. "And I was going to drag King back by myself, just like I do every year he gets stupid at the surfing championships, but this time </span>
  <em>
    <span>they</span>
  </em>
  <span> were there."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe sipped her drink slowly, setting it down when she saw the expression on Queen's face. She didn't know her well enough to guess exactly what Queen was feeling, but whatever it was wasn't a pleasant memory for her. "Would you like a hug?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen looked at her and smiled gently. "Once we finish this story, yes. For now, you need to know what they did to my boy. The things that the paper didn't report and the things Lance probably hasn't told you. He may not even remember, considering what he went through after everything they did."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe swallowed, licked her lips, and nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Jetstream tried to pull King out of the water, but my husband's faster than her on a board and he's even faster in water. He let the board go so he could swim in the water and get away. The Commander punched the waves and split the ocean, but the ocean is stronger than that man, and it never lasted long. King was going to escape. He was even swimming straight for me, though he didn't know it at the time, and I was going to put him under house arrest so fast you can't even imagine," she said, clapping her hands sharply. "He would've got away if it was just those two. But Lance was there that day. He was doing an apprenticeship, according to him, and getting in the way, according to </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe felt her mouth getting dry but didn't dare move to get her drink. Queen's storytelling was entrancing and she was hanging on her every word.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance went into the water. Have you seen his power, girl, truly seen it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe shook her head. Lance was nearly always wearing a power repressing cuff, and the only time she'd seen him power up was when he was emotional enough to get past it. He had bought his cuff specifically from someone or it had been given to him by the Evil Food Company, she wasn't sure, but it was on his wrist every minute of every day. She sometimes forgot it was even a power repressing cuff and caught herself thinking it was a bracelet, but then he'd get angry and lava would fall from his fingertips or he'd blush lava orange and she'd be reminded of his power abruptly. But still, she'd never seen him fully powered up before.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You should ask while you are here. He knows he is safe here," Queen said. "Unlike on that day. He thought he was safe but did not truly know. He thought he had friends, mentors, people who would protect him. So, he powered up to capture my King. Lance had not been told what King had done, nor seen it for himself, he had simply seen Jetstream and the Commander failing and rushed to help them. Just like a Hero is supposed to do, hey?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"He rushes in to save them, save the day, and he powers up to stop King. Lance waits until the Commander has punched the ocean again, splitting the waves long enough for his power to erupt and keep the water at bay. King is too fast in the water, sometimes, too fast to stop or turn. He collides into the wall of cooling lava and goes flying. He falls into the sand and cleans himself up until he realises the danger he's in. Lance hasn't powered down. Now everyone here knows the ocean doesn't listen to anyone. My King, though, he can persuade her. The ocean blocks him from the lava, protects him and keeps him safe. But it's too late.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The ocean focuses on Lance and King forgets about Jetstream and the Commander. Jetstream pulls him out of that spot in the ocean while the Commander goes for his trophy. They both forget about Lance, and now that King's persuasion is focused on trying to distract the Commander and surfboard, the ocean covers the lava and starts to cover him, too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance can't swim and the ocean's cold. His lava is cooling too quickly and he's stuck. His arms and legs are cooling, the lava cracking, and he can't move. The tide is coming in, so he starts calling out. He's terrified, and his voice is weak, but Jetstream and the Commander hear him."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe realised that she was clenching her jaw, her teeth aching, and she forced herself to relax her body. She wanted to go hunt down Jetstream and the Commander, and she hadn't even heard the rest of the tale yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"There's no one left on the beach, or so they think. They don't think there's anything beyond what they can see, so they don't notice the jellyfish and shark and octopus in the water, and most importantly they don't see </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Queen added firmly, her own fist clenching and - for a brief moment - invisible like the sheen of a pearl. "Jetstream gives King to the Commander. He knocks him out with the surfboard and his blood mixes into the sand, but his </span>
  <em>
    <span>trophy</span>
  </em>
  <span> stays intact. Jetstream flies over to Lance and looks at him. She doesn't even </span>
  <em>
    <span>try</span>
  </em>
  <span> to help. She just looks at him like he's an animal caught in a trap. Says the words I'll never forget for the rest of my life: </span>
  <em>
    <span>we refuse to team up with weak supers</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Not even ten words and that destroyed him more than the ocean ever would."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hearing those words for herself, Chloe felt like something snapped inside of her. Goosebumps covered her arms, her legs prickling with the same sensation, and she found her voice again. "</span>
  <em>
    <span>She said what?</span>
  </em>
  <span>"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the words fell from her mouth, things began to replicate around them. Food, chairs, plates, cutlery, tablecloths, and Chloe struggled to keep it to inanimate objects and not replicate the people around her, too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Chloe! Chloe, are you all right? What's going on? Here, Chloe, take my spare," Lance said, pulling a power repressing cuff out of his pocket and offering it to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span><em>Even now, when her power was still replicating to a dangerous extent</em> - light bulbs overhead, the unfixed globes falling and smashing to the ground; rocky tiles beneath their feet, tripping up those that were trying to leave or escape; even the air was starting to replicate, a few of the shifters collapsing due to overexposure to the pure oxygen - <em>he wouldn't put the cuff on her and take her power away</em>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At that moment, she knew she truly loved him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe put it on her own wrist and clipped it shut, wincing as the sound was accompanied by the smashing of more glass and ceramic and tiles. "I'm so sorry."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen stared, looking between Chloe and Lance and the destruction around them. "Next time, remind me to ask about powers </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> pronouns. You, girl, you don't need to be sorry and you come back anytime. With or without Lance."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span><em>Being invited to the Court as Lance's girlfriend was an honour and being invited on her own merit was even better than that</em>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, Queen. Thank you for the cuff, Lance. I'll help clean up. Will you continue the rest when we've cleaned up, please?" she asked Queen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are you sure? What were you telling her anyway, Queen?" Lance asked, frowning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen smiled and patted his cheek. "You worry too much, Lance. You help clean and I will keep telling you outside, girl. Come, we'll walk by the ocean and have some privacy, hey?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"But the cleaning - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The Court are used to cleaning messes up after themselves, this is just one more. I can command you as Queen, if you'd prefer?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blushing and shaking her head, Chloe squeezed Lance's hand gently. "I'll be back soon."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Okay. Take care of yourself, all right?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You too. Be careful of the glass," she said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Quick, girl, or you'll miss the sunset!" Queen called, already at the doorway and waiting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Coming."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen and Chloe were both quiet as they walked through the mansion that was built into the walls. It was as naturally formed as powered architecture into the side of a cliff could be, and even though the rooms were misshapen and the floor weaved and swayed as though it was imitating the ocean, Chloe loved every inch of it. There were no ornaments or frames on the walls, but each wall was unique with various shells and fossils scattered throughout. The ocean itself even flowed into front rooms of the cliffside house; those rooms belonged to the shifters, and watermarks showed the rising tide levels. Thankfully, the tide was still out and Chloe didn't have to wade through water to get outside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once Queen was outside, she continued along the beach, walking along the water's edge where the sand sank between her toes. Chloe walked beside her, her shoes in her hands, and felt calmer as the ocean brushed up against her ankles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The story gets worse, girl. Are you sure you're ready?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe nodded and held up her cuffed hand. "I'm ready."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Not there, girl. Your power could pull this place apart and it wouldn't matter if you weren't ready in </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span> and in </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Queen said firmly, indicating to her temple and heart.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. I think I'm ready? I want to know, but it's... I'm already so angry just hearing what she said to Lance, and if it gets worse, I don't know what I'll do."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen seemed impressed by her answer and nodded. "Good. Be angry, feel what you need to feel. It would be worse if you didn't feel anything."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe swallowed hard, wishing she'd had that drink after all. "Okay. I'm ready, if you are."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Good. Where was I?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Jetstream said they didn't want to team up with weak supers."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Right. She said that and flew away. Lance screamed himself hoarse, begging them to come back, begging them to help, begging to live just another day. I admit, I was planning on leaving him, too. Jetstream and the Commander had King and I needed to get him back before he went to prison - he had a lot of unpaid parking tickets and the Chief of Police was itching for a reason to lock him up - but hearing him begging to live stopped me in my tracks. He wouldn't have seen me or recognised any of the others in the ocean, but he kept begging until he couldn't anymore. I knew if Lance had that much will in him to live and survive, then Jetstream was wrong about him: he was anything but weak. I got the Court and we worked all night to save him. Called friends who could do anything involving water to keep him from drowning, spent hours digging at the lava and trying not to break off his limbs with shovels, kept him alive and as sane as he possibly could while his own power worked against him. I kept him entertained with stories while he dug him out, and by morning, neither of us could talk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"He slept for three days straight and while supers heal faster than most, it wasn't enough to heal Lance completely. You have seen his scars, yes? They were worse back then. He had to learn how to walk, how to move and bend his arms without screaming in pain, how to write with limited nerve endings, how to hold a spoon and feed himself, how to heal his mind as well as his body. It was like Lance was a newborn baby all over again."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How's he so well adjusted? I would've gone full villain."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"There were days when he could have done that. There were days when he couldn't. He still thought of himself as a Hero for the most part, but me and my Court saving him while Jetstream and the Commander left him for dead messed with his moral compass. He didn't know which way was North anymore, and it didn't help that I let him go."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen smiled at Chloe's surprised response. "He thought I would use him and trade his life for King's. Instead, I made sure he was healed, had clothes on his back - even if he didn't like the flower shirt, it was still clothing, never mind what he thought about it - and even paid for his flight back to Ohio the next day. I sent him off with the Court, made sure he got to a nice hotel and wasn't going to the police to tell them where we were - this was before the obvious cliff house," Queen added, grinning. "He was back an hour later, pledging his life to me. I called in a few more favours and got him a job at the Evil Food Company, including accommodation and food. I don't think he's ever forgiven me for making him leave Hawaii."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"He does love it here," Chloe agreed, and she could understand why.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were both silent for a moment, watching the sun setting in the distance and turning the ocean into a mix of reds and oranges, the waves and water glittering like diamonds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What happened to Jetstream and the Commander? And King?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen sighed. "King is still in prison and likely to stay there, but he does better in there than out here, and the conjugal visits are worth both our time."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Which was way more than she needed to know</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"And since the Commander got his trophy, I gave Jetstream one of her own: pearl earrings."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe frowned. "You gave her a gift?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen shook her head. "She thinks so, but they're a warning device. She was instructed to wear them if she ever came back to Hawaii; my pearls are unique and everyone here recognises them, so they'll know they're dealing with that bitch and make her life a living hell at every turn. Besides, I know where all of my pearls are at any time, so if she wears them on the way here, I'll know and can prepare to shoot that bitch down with a power repressing net."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not surprised by Queen's vicious tone, Chloe just nodded. "Let me know if I can help in any way."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You can keep Lance in Ohio, where he needs to be. Come here on holidays, visit often, but you always have to go back to Maxville, you understand?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Why?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen raised an eyebrow at her. "You're questioning me, girl?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh... No."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen's stern expression faded and she smiled. "Good. Now, let's get back before Lance comes looking for you. I'll get the Court to show you to your room."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, Queen, and thank you for telling me what happened to Lance."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Of course, girl. When you meet Jetstream and the Commander, you remember my story, okay?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Determining this was another thing she shouldn't question, Chloe nodded. "Yes, Queen."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time they returned to the cliffside mansion, Lance was standing with the shark shifter outside the nursery, talking about their newest pups.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance congratulated her warmly and headed straight over to Queen and Chloe. "Are you all right?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm fine now. Did anyone hurt themselves cleaning my mess?" Chloe asked with a wince.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No, but the jellyfish twins want a proper demonstration with caviar," he said, grinning</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Queen laughed. "Of course they do! You take your girl and show her your room, hey?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance nodded. "All right, good night, Queen. Night, Sharky."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe said goodnight to them both as well and let Lance guide her through the mansion until they reached their room. "I will pay good money if I can sleep for the next twelve hours straight," she groaned, collapsing on the bed and cuddling a pillow to her chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How much money? I could buy a new couch," Lance teased.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You've had that couch forever, why would you buy a new one?" Chloe asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm starting to feel the springs on my ass and it hurts."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe snorted and threw the pillow at him. "I can </span>
  <em>
    <span>see</span>
  </em>
  <span> the springs on that couch, Lance, so I'm not surprised at all. The only thing I'm surprised about is how long it's taken for the springs to get their revenge on your ass," she snickered. "Want to go couch shopping when we get back?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You'd go couch shopping with me?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If you're the one paying for the couch, sure. I'll pay for lunch," she offered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Fair deal," Lance said with a grin, throwing the pillow back to her. His grin faded and he looked Chloe over, as though trying to assess for damage. "Are you </span>
  <em>
    <span>sure</span>
  </em>
  <span> you're okay, Chloe? What did Queen talk to you about, anyway?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe bit her lip, uncertain if she should bring it up. She didn't want to lie to him though, and sighed, running a hand through her hair, absent-mindedly braiding it over her shoulder. "Queen told me the story of how you met."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Lance set their suitcases down in the wardrobe, closing the wardrobe doors gently. "Fuck, no wonder you lost your shit. I don't know how you can even stand to be in the same room as me right now."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe frowned. "What? Why on earth would you think that?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I... I attacked Queen when all she did was try to help me."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"She didn't tell me that. But I'd be surprised if you hadn't; you were a hero and she was a villain coming at you out of nowhere."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Not then. Later. After, when she'd just spent weeks and called in favours that she'd held onto for years just to heal me. I went back there and attacked her," he admitted quietly, the words wrenched out of his throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe leaned back on the bed and looked at Lance, the tense set of his shoulders, and remembered Queen's words about his compass being knocked off North. </span>
  <span>"It must have really fucked you up, huh?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance turned around, eyes wide in surprise. "What?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Everything that happened. Correct me if I'm wrong, okay?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uhh... okay?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So, you'd been injured by the actions of heroes, two heroes you'd looked up to for a long time, in fact; I've seen the photos of your childhood bedroom, don't pretend you weren't a fanboy," she added with a teasing lilt, hoping what she said next wouldn't hurt him too much. "They ended up hurting you and leaving you behind, and instead of being saved by heroes, like you expected, you were saved by the villain's wife, a well-known villain herself at the time. Queen says she's reformed, but I don't think most people truly believe that, at least not locally. But that's not the point. The heroes save, the villains hurt. It's a well-established rule and everyone knows that's what happens. It happens every day in countries all over the world. But here you are, being saved by the villain. She spends weeks healing you and calling in favours and treating you better than Jetstream and the Commander ever tried to do. Worse, when you're healed, Queen gives you a hotel room. I'm guessing it wasn't something cheap and rundown?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Presidential Suite at Four Seasons. It was peak season, too. She said she wanted me to be looked after," Lance admitted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Right, and you're either thinking she's trying to rub in the fact that she's literal royalty in Hawaii, or she's trying to lull you into a false sense of security and kidnap you in the middle of the night."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He winced at the words. "Both."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe grinned at the confirmation and continued to talk. "Her husband's still in prison and not only are you a free man, you're also the reason he's in prison. Of course, being royalty, Queen has to know people in the prison and it wouldn't take much to swap your life for his. Her keeping you alive doesn't make any sense otherwise, does it? Villains don't care for people, they don't treat them like friends or like family. They only use people."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance was clutching the hem of his shirt tightly in his hands but he hadn't told her to stop yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Giving herself a moment to catch her breath and for Lance to stop her, she continued when he didn't say anything. "So, you were going to put a stop to it. She was a villain, you were a hero, and you were expected to defeat her. I'm guessing you gave yourself a pep talk on the way over? Probably something about justice and how you couldn't show your face in Maxville if you didn't even </span>
  <em>
    <span>try</span>
  </em>
  <span> to defeat Queen."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance laughed, the sound hollow and broken. "Something like that."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The Court let you in without resistance. They didn't know what you were here to do, and they were happy to see you again. You met Queen and attacked her, but she beat your ass without even trying. Or did you give her a fight?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance sniffed and wiped at his wet eyes. "I half-assed it all, Chloe. I couldn't even do more than a trickle of lava. She had me knocked on my ass in three seconds flat and two of them were out of pity. I pledged allegiance to her while I was down there."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe gave a grin at that because she expected nothing less from him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I didn't... " His voice broke and he looked down at his hands clenching and ruining his shirt. "I thought you'd hate me if you found out. I didn't want you to think less of me for attacking her."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe sighed and stood up, making her way over to him and held his hands in her own. "I get it, Lance. Like I said: it must have really fucked you up. Queen forgave you on the spot, if she accepted your allegiance, right?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nodded, hot tears falling to the ground with the movement. "Yeah. She forgave me before she'd even knocked me on my ass. I... It took longer to forgive myself," he admitted, sniffling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know. Come here," Chloe murmured, holding her arms open for him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance collapsed into her arms, sobbing and curving his arms around her so tight that Chloe was sure she'd have his cuff imprinted on her lower back the next morning. Guiding him over to the bed, Chloe tucked Lance against her chest while he cried himself to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Though she knew Queen's insistence on Lance being in Maxville, Chloe couldn't help but miss Hawaii, even before they'd left. They were boarding the plane and Chloe thought that if Lance suggested they stay another week, she wouldn't have hesitated to agree. Biting her tongue to stop from suggesting the idea herself, Chloe squeezed Lance's hand gently and continued onto the plane.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The flight home was even worse than the one there and Chloe had to take sleeping pills to knock herself out after one too many bouts of severe turbulence and an accidental replication of aeroplane food.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time they arrived in Ohio eight hours later, Chloe felt like her brain had been replaced by soft cotton wool. Her mouth felt dry and horrible, and she drank three tiny bottles of water before even acknowledging the fact that they had landed and the flight crew were waiting for her and Lance to get off the plane.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are you feeling all right?" Lance asked, his worry clear on his face. He pointedly ignored the steward standing a few metres away, obviously impatient for them to leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Shit. How long've we been on the ground?" Chloe groaned, fumbling with her seatbelt and trying to stand at the same time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Five minutes. Everyone got off the plane faster than Jetstream flying to the moon," Lance said, rolling his eyes. "Hey, one at a time. Belt first, there you go. Take it slow or you'll collapse. Those sleeping pills are too strong."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They're the only ones that work and don't leave me powerless," Chloe admitted, even as she clung to the seat as she waited for Lance to get their overhead luggage out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know, but is a brief lapse worth this? You can barely stand right now. I'll take your bag, you just concentrate on walking," he murmured, kissing her cheek.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe wanted to argue and protest, but she felt like they were still in midair, so she kept her mouth shut, turned as carefully as possible, and walked down the aisle to get off the plane without falling over or puking. She managed it, but not by much, and as she walked out of the recycled air conditioning in the plane and into the overwhelming mess of scents in the airport - food, body odour, plastic and vinyl chairs, coffee, and too strong perfume - Chloe felt her stomach churning dangerously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Over her shoulder, Lance held out a sick bag for her. "I thought you might need it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe took the bag and nodded. The closest toilet already had a line forming, so Chloe moved to the seating and tried to breathe through the smells and her sensitive nose, clutching the bag and hoping to Super God that she wouldn't have to use it. "Talk to me? Take my mind off... this?" she asked, waving her hand at the building around them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance sat next to her, careful not to touch her since she didn't like being touched when she felt nauseous. "How do you feel about having children?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe looked at him, her nausea was instantly forgotten. "What?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I shouldn't have sprung that on you, sorry. I thought we could discuss it when we got home, but then you wanted a distraction and it's the biggest one I could think of. Are you all right?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You've been apologising for two hours, Lance, and we've only been home for one. Stop. I'm fine, I was surprised, and I did ask for you to take my mind off my nausea, so... that happened," Chloe said. "Why are you bringing it up now?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You wanted a - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No, why now, now? Why straight after our holiday in Hawaii? Did Queen say you should have kids?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance snorted and rolled his eyes. "I pledged allegiance to her, Chloe, but I'm not going to let someone else dictate who I have or don't have kids with. It's our decision. I mean... Sharky's pups got me thinking."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They were cute. They were also sharks, Lance."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know. But they were so tiny and their fins were adorable and their teeth! I just... I started thinking about what our kids could look like."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe inhaled and exhaled slowly. She could imagine it, too. She could see a kid with her nose and Lance's eyes, his hair and her cheeks, his height and her long fingers. She could see all of it, clear as day, which made this part so much harder to say. "I can't have children."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry, Chloe. I didn't know. I wouldn't have brought it up if I'd known."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, calm down. Come here and sit with me, okay? We probably should've talked about this sooner, especially if it's going to be a dealbreaker for either of us, huh?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance took her offered hand and sat next to her on the bed, one leg hanging off the side and the other curled towards himself so he could sit and watch her properly without craning his neck. Mirroring his body language, Chloe gave a wary and hesitant smile. He squeezed her hand and lifted it to press a kiss to the back. "It's not a dealbreaker, Chloe. I love you, no matter what."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You might not after you hear this... " she muttered, then sighed. "When I was younger, I had really, really, extremely bad and severe period cramps. I'm talking unable to move, puking my guts up, cramping so bad my body spasmed at random times, even while I was sleeping, if I managed to sleep at all. I lost a tooth after I fell out of bed because of it, but replicated it back. Which is actually more traumatising than you think," Chloe added, shuddering. "I had migraines with everything they entailed: more nausea on top of the other nausea, light sensitivity, the works. There were days when it felt like my uterus was trying to destroy me from the inside out. I bled for </span>
  <em>
    <span>weeks</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not days, and one time, I bled for two months straight. I couldn't move to go to a doctor and my foster family weren't exactly the kind and loving people who'd call a doctor for something they didn't deem as urgent. I was bleeding, it was normal, that was the end of the discussion."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance made a noise of outrage but didn't interrupt.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"One day I think I actually was dying, or at least it felt like I was. I was certain that if I had to spend another night in that kind of pain, I'd wake up dead." Chloe looked at him, a red blush on her cheeks. "Remember how I said I can replicate organs?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I think I remember you saying something about it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Right. Well, I decided that since they wouldn't take me to the hospital for something they couldn't see, I'd make them take me for something they could see. I was aiming to replicate a finger or a toe, maybe even my whole foot if I needed to, but then I had another cramp. Which led to a Very Bad Idea."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, no."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, yes. I replicated my uterus. I did such a good job of it that I screamed loud enough to have three neighbours call for the police. I was taken to the hospital, both of my uteruses were removed, and my fallopian tubes were tied for good measure. When I woke up after the anesthetic wore off, I found out that those foster parents had dumped me there and left, got the worst telling off by a medical professional I've ever had, and also got a job. They wanted me to replicate organs so they could study them without paying an arm and a leg through the hospital suppliers, paid me for my time, and it's still a handy side business."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They didn't want to pay an arm and a leg... for an arm and a leg?" Lance asked, his lips twitching until he grinned outright, laughing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe groaned and buried her head in her hands. "Is that all you have to say?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No! I have lots of jokes about second</span>
  <em>
    <span>hand</span>
  </em>
  <span> businesses. And maybe a few puns about it, too," he teased. "Hey, look at me, Chloe. I promise, it's not a dealbreaker, okay? I love you and I love our life together, and if you can't have kids, neither of those things change. I still love you and I still love our life."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You won't, I don't know, regret it or resent me? That's what the doctors say: you can't have your tubes tied because </span>
  <em>
    <span>what if your future husband wants kids?</span>
  </em>
  <span> I couldn't fucking move and it didn't matter, only some imaginary guy I hadn't even met yet?" she groused. "Anyway, if we decide to have children, we can always adopt! Why is that never an option in those stupid scenarios?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's very true. Let me just say: as your future husband, I promise to love you for you, not how many kids you can or can't have. Anyone worth their salt would say the same."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe smiled broadly. "Are you proposing to me?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance blinked in surprise. "I didn't mean to, but I'm not taking it back, either. Chloe, will you be my future wife?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I love you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I love you, too. I'm buying a new couch for you, remember?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I thought it was for your ass?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance laughed and kissed her. "Why can't it be for both?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, look. There's Layla and Warren," Chloe said, seeing the redhead and brunette in the kitchen section of the store.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance sat up from where he was testing the length of the couch and looked in the direction she'd indicated. "Hmm? Oh, right. Haven't seen them in ages. When did they start dating?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Joe was probably right that the fight between Will and Warren was about her," she mused, seeing the adoring look on Warren's face as Layla picked out plate patterns.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Joe's usually right about things like that," Lance admitted. "Don't tell him I said that; he'll brag about it for weeks."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Mmm, probably. This one's too hard, isn't it?" Chloe asked, bouncing on the couch cushion a few times.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, my back's already hurting," he groaned, standing up and stretching.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Shhh, I feel old enough already."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Moving to another lounge, Chloe noticed that Warren and Layla had moved across to cookware now, but turned her attention to her future fiance who was making content noises.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Think this is finally </span>
  <em>
    <span>the lounge?</span>
  </em>
  <span>" she asked, grinning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Maybe. I need to know if we can cuddle on it, though. C'mere."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe laughed as she was tugged down onto the couch and curled up against his chest. "I'm probably going to fall off. Can you stretch out more?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A salesperson wandered over, smiling briefly when he saw Lance attempting to stretch out on the lounge and Chloe almost in a foetal position as a result. "The armrests on that lounge go down."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Pardon?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The armrests have a button that lowers them down. It gives you more room to stretch out without needing to add additional sections like a chaise. You can do one or both. Allow me to demonstrate?" he offered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thank you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Outside the store, there was a loud sound of someone yelling, and they looked over to see a crowd starting to grow. Lance and Chloe were on their feet and heading towards the noise in an instant, their aching backs forgotten. They stopped short in the doorway when they saw Layla and Warren with a blonde girl further down the mall, the latter looking contrite and blushing red in embarrassment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Think they need help?" Lance asked, even as the crowd started to disperse, the previously yelling couple now storming off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe looked over to where Layla and Warren had just been and saw them escorting the blonde girl out of the mall without looking back. "Doesn't seem like it; they're already gone."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hmm, shame. A good fight could help stretch my back out," Lance mused, grinning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I've got a better way to stretch your back out. But let's finish in here first; I want to see that lounge with the armrests properly."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blushing orange at her suggestion, Lance nodded and they walked back to the salesperson and the lounge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You are the cafeteria's only food supplier; I would hope you would have a more thorough understanding of the food you actually supply to us," Principal Powers said sternly. "These ingredients are causing a record number of food poisoning cases not only to students but also to staff. We've had more pizza-related absences in the last three months than we've had actual illnesses."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Believe me, I want to know what the issue is, just as much as you do," Honey said firmly. "It doesn't seem to be coming from our staff or factory. Not only have we sterilised and cleaned our machines, but we're also using a new food supplier. Even Clone is no longer getting sick when handling the items, and I can admit that the first two batches were caused by her, which you have already received the financial compensation for," she added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"And in your professional opinion, who do you think it is?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Professionally, I can only speculate. It's possible that the culprit is a staff member in the cafeteria since they are the ones that actually cook the food; the EFC just sends the ingredients."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Those staff members took over from your tender, you have to admit there's some bias in your judgment," Principal Powers pointed out. "And your <em>other</em> professional opinion?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Honey shrugged. "The bias may be true, but I also can't see who or what the cause is, so I'm unable to provide a more detailed analysis other than speculation and educated guesses at this stage."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So whoever is doing it has a power repressing cuff?" Principal Powers asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It seems that way."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Principal Powers sighed. "Very well. Thank you for your time, Hourglass."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Anytime. Uh, except next Wednesday," Honey added quickly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Principal Powers' lips twitched in a brief smile. "The day of Sky High's annual budget review with the Mayor?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Among other things," Honey muttered, not quite low enough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Principal Powers raised an eyebrow in response. "Care to elaborate?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Care to pay my fee?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Laughing outright now, Principal Powers shook her head. "I'll handle it, whatever it is. Go on, I'm sure you've got more important things to do than worry about one old woman."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Honey grinned and shook her offered hand. "Thanks, Principal Powers. Oh, as a thank you for finishing our meeting ten minutes early: wear the blue dress and you'll be able to handle it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, Hourglass."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm telling you, that's the Stronghold boy! Even if he didn't have the red, white, and blue, the Commander and Jetstream introduced him to the world. You really think they'd do that for a stranger?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Didn't they just say Airborne was their son?" Laserator asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Did they? Oh, no, he's patrolling Westville. There goes the neighbourhood," Joe muttered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Shh, I'm trying to watch!" Bundle said, waving at Joe and Laserator to shut them up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe decided she didn't want to hear any more of that - and certainly not see the expression on the three superheroes faces - and left the staff room with her lunch in hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance smiled and waved as he saw her heading down the corridor. "Have you finished already?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No. I can't stand to be in there another minute. Jetstream and the Commander are introducing their son, Airborne, to the world. He's apparently going to patrol Westville."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance wrinkled his nose. "Yet another reason to avoid going to Westville."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Do you want to have lunch with me instead of going into the break room? I can buy you something to eat, if you want?" Chloe offered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'll survive the few minutes I need to get my lunch and then I'll join you," he replied with a smile. "Wait for me?" he asked, kissing her cheek gently once she nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe waited patiently, and then, as more time passed than a few minutes, she became worried. Heading back down the hallway to the staff break room, Chloe felt the heat before her mind caught up and she recognised what the orange glow from the windows meant.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Lance had powered up</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance kissed Chloe's cheek and headed to the break room. Her concern was endearing but he'd seen and been bombarded with advertisements and interviews and exposés so many times since that first time in Hawaii. Lance was practically desensitised to them now and didn't care that they were handing Westville over to their son for no reason other than the fact that he was their son. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Good fucking luck to him.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Deciding to focus his attention on the fridge where his food was waiting, Lance strode from the doorway straight to it, forcing himself to ignore the TV screen and Joe's running commentary, complete with sneering comments about </span>
  <em>
    <span>sticking his prosthetic leg in places the sun didn't shine</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Okay, that was pretty funny,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Lance thought to himself, opening the fridge door and hunting around for where his lunch had migrated to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>" - wish him all the best and know that together, we'll save the world, one villain at a time."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We know he'll grow to be the most successful hero the world has ever seen," Jetstream said, hands on her hips while the Commander struck the same pose beside her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Airborne hurried to follow suit, smiling at the cameras broadly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance didn't notice, his mind focused on a memory, even though his gaze was stuck on the TV without actually seeing it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he'd joined them, the Commander had said the exact same thing to him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They'd work together and save the world, one villain at a time. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He'd believed it at the time, too. They were going to save the world and, just like he had imagined and dreamed as a child, he would be saving the world </span>
  <em>
    <span>with</span>
  </em>
  <span> the Commander himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lava Guy? Uh, you want to power down there, mate?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Did you forget your cuff today?" Joe asked curiously, even as they could all see the lava melting out between the two edges of the cuff.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The cuff dropped to the ground uselessly a moment later, and the slow flow of lava became faster and hotter without the power repressor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Shit. Everyone out!" Joe called.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They ran, jumped, flew, and hopped for the doorway and windows, crashing through them in a mass of bodies just as Chloe arrived and saw Lance destroying the staff break room with his power.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just like she'd told Queen, Chloe had never seen Lance fully powered up. She sometimes forgot that he was an intensely powerful super because of his kind and sweet nature. Now, Chloe knew that she would never forget.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not only could Lance control and manipulate lava, but he could also create it as well. It wasn't like a volcano with an eruption of lava, but instead, his whole body and form exuded lava. His eyes burned white as lava flowed from every possible pore, burning away skin and hair and clothes until he was nothing more than a tall pillar made from lava.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance?" Chloe called, her voice croaking and stuck in her throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't think that's him anymore, Clone. Get out of here before you're hurt," Joe called to her, hopping over with his prosthetic leg tucked under his arm. "He'll cool down and we can chip him out afterwards, same as last time."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What? No, I'm going to stop him. He'll destroy the building; the car park's underneath us, and the whole gas system's down there."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe winced. "Right. Forgot about that one. Lance, is it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance! Get ahold of yourself, you nitwit!" Joe called out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't think that's the sort of encouragement he needs, Joe. Can you let me handle this? You go and get Security. They can turn on the building-wide power repressor if he gets through the concrete."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe sighed but nodded. "All right. You be careful of your feet, lass; you don't want both of them replaced, trust me."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe nodded absentmindedly as Joe reattached his leg with a small grunt of pain and ran down the hallway. Part of her was determined to march into the kitchen, never mind the melting linoleum, while another part was shaking that part of herself for being a reckless and foolish idiot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The floor is lava</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought somewhat hysterically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance? Lance, look at me," Chloe called. "Lance, please."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blindingly bright white spots where his eyes would be were still staring at the TV even though the Commander, Jetstream, and Airborne were no longer showing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Shit. Great idea, Chloe. What now?" she asked herself. "Replicate something. Not the lava, obviously. The floor? No, that won't work. The fridge is melted. Destroy the TV?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Figuring it was a start, Chloe replicated the TV so another one appeared above it, crashing down onto the TV without any support or brackets to hold it up to the wall. Both TVs fell to the ground, lava creeping out to encompass them, but Lance didn't respond or look away from that spot. Whatever he was watching, it was in his mind and had his full attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"All right, it was about the Commander and Jetstream, so likely something there triggered this response. He only knew them for a few weeks before Hawaii, but he idolised the Commander. Uhhh... replicate the Commander? No, too difficult without the original source here. Uh, shit, </span>
  <em>
    <span>shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>, hot," Chloe hissed, stepping back as lava crept out into the hallway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The linoleum in the kitchen was bubbled or melted entirely in places, and the lava was steadily working on the concrete beneath it. Hoping that Joe had made it to Security in time, Chloe replicated the kitchen door and propped it up against the doorway to stop the lava from escaping further. Moving down to the broken kitchen window, Chloe saw that Lance's gaze was in this direction and hoped she might be able to get his attention easier from this angle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lance! Lance, break out of it, come on! You need to come back to me now. Lance, please!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit, she hadn't begged like this since Sky High drama class. Was her pitch high enough or too low? She'd only been acting then, but now, she was feeling real fear and it made her voice tremble rather than project as she wanted it to.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We'll go back to Hawaii when we get married in the future, okay? And have a honeymoon there, too. Queen would probably give us a whole private island to ourselves, wouldn't she? And we'd have to try to get the Court to stop spying because they're all gossips and would want to report back to Queen about everything we did. Which is everything, okay? Well... shit, maybe I should've destroyed the security cameras first. Super God, if Joe brings this up, I'm going to steal his leg. You hear me, Joe?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The small mountain of lava seemed to dim at her words, the blinding light no longer so bright, and Chloe felt hope surge at the realisation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh, was that in response to Queen, our honeymoon, or me threatening Joe? I can do all three again... Uhh, oh, Sharky's babies are getting bigger. She sent photos through and I was going to show you at lunch; you remember the shark pups, don't you? Queen is threatening to set them loose in the ocean so Sharky will stop getting distracted every five minutes."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The glow didn't really lessen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Joe's lucky he takes off his leg for lunch, or he'd probably still be stuck in there, hey?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That didn't work, either.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You really responded to the honeymoon stuff? Does it have to get explicit? I'm pretty sure someone will blackmail us about it later. Can't believe I have to sext you through a goddamn window," Chloe muttered, her cheeks pink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was going to blame that on the heat from the lava, and she was sticking to that story.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Shit, what should I say? I mean, it's not </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> about the honeymoon, is it? It's about us and our future, that's what you're responding to," Chloe guessed, glad that she was proven right when the lava slowed further. "So, the future between us... right, I can do that," she murmured, swallowing hard.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ever since she was a child, Chloe hadn't liked to focus on the future too much; plans could change in a second, people could leave, and even as an adult with a full-time job and a roof over her head, she still kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for everything to disappear around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"All right, I can do this. I can... Uh, the new lounge we bought together should be arriving this week and I've got my spare toothbrush in your bathroom and what feels like most of my clothes in your apartment instead of mine. You have more wardrobe space and I have more clothes than I'll probably ever wear, so we should probably go through them together at some point and set fire to some of the raggedy ones. Or do that thing that turns them into rags, since you always use a tea towel and then it gets all funky and makes the dishes stink. You've promised to buy a dishwasher so it doesn't matter, but we both know we'll get lazy if we get a dishwasher. It'll stay full for days and we'll never remember to empty it, or we'll argue about how the cutlery needs to be placed in that little basket thing, and it'll be the stupidest reason to argue, ever, but not doing things for stupid reasons has never stopped us before, have they? That's probably the reason you started off as a hero: because it was stupid to run into a burning house, but you were going to do it anyway. I don't think that's changed, even now, because you're a villain but you're such a good person and you'd still probably run into a burning house now. Although, maybe you'd be the one to set it alight, but only once you knew it was empty. I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Super God, this is ridiculous. You're burning away concrete and doors, and here I am, talking to you about </span>
  <em>
    <span>dishwashers</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm just rambling and worried because if something happens to you now then that means I'll be alone again and I don't want to be alone, Lance. Not anymore. I'll miss you too much, even if you're alive and breathing right down the hallway from me. I thought I'd be alone for the rest of my life but then you came along and I'm not lonely anymore. I love you and I don't want you to leave me. Please come back," Chloe said, tears somehow managing to fill her eyes despite the intense heat from the lava. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, taking a moment to breathe and calm herself behind her hands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Love you, too, Chloe," Lance said, his voice rough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe opened her eyes and saw the lava was no longer molten and hot. It was starting to cool rapidly, orange and yellow liquid turning to cracked black rock. "Can I get you out before it solidifies around you?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If you're fast enough with a chisel, we can get him out before he has to be pried out entirely," Joe said, holding up a toolbox. "Don't worry, the camera feed died while you were talking about shark babies. Security sent me down then, but it took me a while with my leg," he obviously lied, offering a chisel to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thanks, Joe."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe forced herself to concentrate and replicated herself twice, each one with a chisel. "We'll get him out," she promised, stepping around the broken replicated door and hurrying over to Lance's body, stuck in the cooling lava.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Did I destroy the kitchen?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Not all of it," Chloe replied, starting to carefully prise away pieces of the cooling lava with the chisel.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her replications began to work as well, each as careful and quick as possible, none of them quite sure where rock ended and flesh began. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Was his bicep this big, did his fingers end here or further up, and what about his wrists and the curve of his elbow?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Chloe felt like she knew nothing about Lance even as she tried to free him from memory alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's it, lass. I'll help with the legs; I've done those before," Joe muttered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"When did you do this before?" one of Chloe's replications asked, even her curiosity replicated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"A year before you started working here. The year Captain Stronghold officially retired and the Commander took over. I destroyed the foyer," Lance said, wincing at the memory.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's how we found out the new fireproof doors weren't lava-proof. Hourglass spent four hours on the phone to the insurance company trying to get that claim through," Joe said, chuckling. "All right, I'm going between the toes. Hold still, Lava Guy."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance spent an hour in a hot bath once he'd been chiselled out of the igneous rock, scrubbing and peeling the rock and stains from his hot skin. His hair would grow back eventually. A knock at the door had him looking over to Chloe, who was looking tired after replicating so much as well as the emotional exhaustion that came from seeing him turning into a pillar of lava. She smiled slightly and headed over when he held out a hand for her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are you all right, Chloe?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I should be asking you that. You're the one that turned into lava, not me."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's my power. I'm fine. Mostly," Lance amended.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Anything I can help with?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Can you scrub my back? There are places I can't reach," he admitted with a grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, you just want me to wait on you, hmm? I saw you looking down my replicant's shirt," she teased, taking a new washcloth and wetting it in the blackened bathwater. "You'll need another bath after this," Chloe said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You and your replicants can join me, then," Lance said, his voice too tired to be believable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Mmm. Maybe next time. Lean forward a bit? I need to scrub between your shoulder blades."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lance leaned forward as requested and held onto his knees as silence descended while Chloe scrubbed rock off his body. "Thank you, Chloe. For everything."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She kissed his cheek. "I'm just glad you're safe and back with me."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So am I."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Welcome back. The school and students have certainly missed you," Principal Powers said with a warm smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, Principal Powers. It's nice to be back," Chloe said genuinely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm glad to hear that. I'll leave you to do your work. Enjoy your first day back at Sky High. Good deeds and good luck!" Principal Powers said, spinning into a comet and flying out of the cafeteria.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe wrinkled her nose at Comet's saying and glanced over at Lance, who was preparing the pasta dish for lunch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Stop distracting me. I don't want to feed the kids undercooked pasta bake," Lance said with a grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How am I distracting you?" Chloe asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're looking far too cute," Lance said with a decisive nod, setting the last of the crumb and cheese mixture onto the dish and sliding it into the oven.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Think anyone will notice if we sneak out to make out?" she asked, grinning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes. Burnt pasta is just as bad as undercooked pasta," he added, shaking his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe snickered and started to prepare and cut up the vegetables for the salad. The routine between herself and Lance fell into place like they hadn't been away for two years. She sliced one vegetable, replicated the slices, and added them to a dish. At his station, Lance worked on the foods that actually required to be cooked, since Chloe still couldn't replicate the proper temperatures to make the food edible and safe for consumption.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time the first bell rang for lunch, everything was sitting in the food warmers, ready to be demolished by a small horde of hungry teens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe couldn't stop from grinning as the doors opened at the first of the students arrived. She'd missed seeing them every day, and even if the cafeteria got destroyed again, it was worth it to see them grow and see the glimpses of the adults they would become. Noise filled the cafeteria, kids working out their change and changing their food orders, and Chloe loved every minute of it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, Clone, you're back! I've missed you," a familiar voice said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe smiled as she looked over from the salad she was replicating to Layla. "I've missed you, too, Layla. It's nice to be back," she said genuinely, even though she was covered in melted cheese from the pasta bake. "How have you been?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Good! I mean, I miss Warren now that he's graduated, and we only ever seem to have a few hours for each other while he's working, but school is going good, and - "</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Lay, hurry up, Barney forgot the cucumber and there's no point to a garden salad without cucumber. He's getting a very stern talking to on his feedback cards this week," Craig said, draping around Layla's shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Layla sighed and patted his arm. "Be kind to Barney, Cee. You know Dess just gave birth again; we're lucky we got any food from them this week. Sorry, Chloe, I have to go. I'll come back at the end of lunch and we'll catch up, okay?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe shook her head. "Don't worry about it. You go have fun with your friends. We'll catch up another time."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"All right. Raincheck, then," she said with a warm smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chloe glanced over to the table Layla was heading toward with Craig and saw it full of people she recognised and others she didn't. Some of the younger ones were obviously newcomers to Sky High in the last two years that she'd been absent. Chloe felt a sense of relief and pride that the formerly quiet-spoken young girl had grown into an almost adult with friends surrounding her. She hoped the friendships would last beyond Sky High.</span>
</p><p><br/>
...</p><p> </p><p>The end.</p><p> </p><p>Thanks for reading; I hope you liked it!</p>
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